Ascension: A Tale of Two Friends
by Wamu
Summary: The Kingdom of the Sky is in danger. An evil prescence threatens the land and its king has decide to call upon the help of warriors from different lands. Now this duo must combat the evil and free the oppressed land. Problem is these heores don't know the first thing about savin gthe world...
1. Book I: Chapter 1

_Hello and welcome to my first story._

_I hope you enjoy and I would just like to stay I will accept constuctive critism but no flames._

_This story is based off of Ramza411sb's Kingdom of The Sky playthrough._

_And now the story._

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**I blame the sheep. If we didn't stop to see why a sheep was on the side of the road then we wouldn't have had to start our journey to save the world.**

**But you probably didn't want to hear me talk right? You want to hear about magic, exploding demons and the cakinator.**

**What's that? Well...you'll see.**

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The college student yawned as he reclined in his seat. He looked at the small digits representing his clock and tapped another key on his computer, trying to conjure up a thought about what to write for his paper.

After another minute passed he decided to give up and shut the laptop.

The room was slighty untidy, with scrunched up bedsheets and crumpled clothing strewn across the floor but the clost was neatly arranged and the nightstand had a simple lamp with a skirt. He had intended to take that down after his parents left but just wound up being too lazy to do it.

The student himself was tall and thin with bown hair and eyes. He was pale from late nights on the computer and dressed in simple jeans and a hoodie.

He was surprised as his phone vibradted across the nightstand and its screen lit up from the caller. The student pciked up the phone and opened it.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hey, Shawn." The voice at the other end said. "Just calling because, well, I don't how to say this but there's a sheep in the city."

"Ryan, are you sure you aren't just at the petting zoo, again?" Shawn asked, knowing his friend visited that place often.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Well it's just sheep, right?" Shawn walked over to the window and looked out.

"Yeah, I thought that to until I got closer." Ryan paused. "It's eyes are all messed up and it's...glowing."

"Okay...I believe you." Shawn not believing his friend. "Where are you?"

"By the Pharmasave."

"I'll be right over." Shawn ended the call then rummaged in his pocket for any spare change for the bus.

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"You came!" Ryan exclaimed.

He was tall and thin like Shawn but seemed to have just a bit more muscle. He was dressed like Shawn with raven colored hair and sky blue eyes. Clutched in his hand was a Wonderbread package.

"So where is it?" Shawn asked.

"Over there." Ryan gestured to an alleyway surrounded by trash bins and what looked like a pile of newspapers. "I was getting some bread and saw it run into this alley."

"And you decided to follow it?" Shawn questioned.

"Well...yeah, I mean, glowing sheep and all. Why wouldn't I follow it?" Ryan stated.

"I don't know maybe _because_ it's a glowing sheep?"

Ryan looked slightly taken back at this.

"Guess I never thought of that..."

Ryan thought. "Anyway, do you want to go see it?"

'Why not."

Ryan led the way into the alley and Shawn saw the faint glow at the back, where the chain link fence was.

When they got closer the sheep came into focus and Shawn saw what Ryan was talking about. The sheep's eyes were set at odd angles and it's coat did give off a faint glow, other than that it was a sheep.

"Isn't he cute?" Ryan asked.

"Sure. Waht I'm wondering is what's wrong with him. No normal sheep is like that."

"Can we keep him?" Ryan asked, oblivous to his friend's question.

"Keep a sheep?" Shanw stated.

"We'd never have to buy clothes again." Ryan suggested.

"But we don't know how to sew..."

"We could learn?" Ryan countered.

The sheep bleated.

"See? He agrees with me!"

Shawn however wasn't paying attention. "Is that sheep getting brighter?"

"What?" Ryan turned to the sheep.

It _did_ seem to be getting brighter.

"Maybe we should get out of here..." Shawn suggested.

"I don't think that's possible..." Ryan said.

"Why? Do you still want it?"

"No. I can't move." To emthasize this he failed to lift his leg.

"Neither can I..." Shawn realized.

Toghter the duo grabbed thier legs and pulled, as the sheep burned brighter.

It bleated again, just as the light burned their eyes.

"Still want to keep this sheep!?" Shawn shouted.

"Yes!"

"What."

Just then the light engulfed them and when it subsided there was nothing but an empty alleyway.

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Slowly consiouness returned and wiht a sudden sense of nausea. This proved to be too much for Shawn and bile quickly made its presence known across the grass he had been resting his head.

"Oh God..."

Shawn frowned.

"Hey, you okay?" Ryan asked.

He offered a hand and Shawn gratefully took it, shakily staning up.

"Where are we?" He looked around.

A small hill was beside them, a pond was on the other hand and growing aorund it were tall reeds. In the distance of the pond was a large pale moutain witha orange sphere hovering above it.

Ryan looked behing them and had to blink.

"Hey, Shawn?"

Shawn came over and looked down.

All that could be seen were clouds. That was it. A giagnatic white fluff-ball that covered the entire ground...or was it the sky?

"What the hell?"

There was a bleat ahead of them and the duo saw the sheep standing underneath a wooden arch.

"You!" Ryan exclaimed, marching up to the sheep. "You have some explaining to do!'

The sheep bleated and shook it's head sending tow small boxes falling to the ground.

"Uh...where did those boxes come from?" Shawn asked.

Ryan picked them up and opend the top. He raised an eyebrow.

"I think this is for you." Ryan tossed him the other box.

Shawn cuaght it and opend it to see something that resembled a bluetooth, except twice the normal size and colored grey with a black button right in the center.

"I don't know if I should be happy thta a sheep kidnapped us to give out free bluetooths." Shawn remarked.

The sheep bleated once more before an arrow sprouted from its neck. A shocked silence followed and then two figures stepped into view.

One was bulky, with green rotting skin and dressed in rags. A zombie. The other was a skeleton, with a inverted traingle painted on its skull. It held the bow that had killed the sheep.

The skelton aimed and Shawn was the first to react.

"Duck!" He cried.

Ryan dove as Shawn scanned the ground for anything to use as a weapon. He spotted a rock and scooped it up.

Ryan rolled just as a arrow sprouted from where he was laying. Shawn threw the rock and it sailed before connecting wiht the skeleton's ribcage and snapping off three ribs.

The skeleton simply nocked another arrow and fired it at Shawn. The zombie still continued moving at its slow pace trying to towards the target was moving. Shawn picked up another rock and threw it, this time hitting the zombie. It too didn't react.

"Oh crap!"

Shawn thought.

Ryan however was trying to find something to fight with and spotted the least likely weapon.

"Better than nothing.."

He thought.

Shawn meanwhile was backed into a corner at the mercy of the two undead monsters.

"Please, somebody help me.."

Shawn thought.

The skeleton nocked an arrow and was about to release the trigger when Wonderbread, wielded by Ryan, connected with the side of its head. The arrow whizzed harmfully over Shawn's head. The skeleton staggered and Shawn tackled it into the ground, while Ryan smacked the zombie with the Wonderbread. Shawn and the skeleton grappled for a moment before Shawn wildily grapped at a space a space beside and after finding what he needed, raised athe rock and caved in the skeleton's skull.

He exhaled and suddenly remebered Ryan. He looked over and saw his friend still smacking the zombie with the Wonderbread. Shawn picked up the fallen Skeleton's bow and arrow, aimed and released the string.

At such a clsoe distance the arrow impaled itself straight into the zombie's head. It let out a pitifull moan before keeling over.

Ryan looked at the body. "Thanks."

"Your welcome."

"So...what now?"

Shawn held up the device.

"Let's try this." He attached it to his ear and tapped the button a few times.

Ryan copied this and was startled as a beeping suddenly started. He tapped the button and a voice began speaking.

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?" The voice was youthful, but also sounded slightly desperate.

"Yeah." There was a sgh of relief. "Who is this? Where are we?"

"Oh, thank Notch." There was silence for a bit. "Excuse me, where are my manners? I am King Decker, ruler of the Kingdom of the sky."

"Kingdom of the Sky? Where is that?" Ryan asked.

"Shouldn't it be obivous? We are in the sky." Decker stated as if was a basic fact of life, like _what's your first name?_

"What." Both said at the same moment.

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**End of Chapter One**

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	2. Book I: Chapter 2

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"You two must have bad hearing. Are you sure your the heroes I summoned?" Decker asked, doubt beginning to creep into his voice.

"It's just...how can there be a floating kingdom?" Shawn said.

"Simple," Decker answered. "Magic."

"Magic?" Shawn repeated, also getting doubt in his voice.

"Magic!" Ryan exclaimed, not showing any sign of doubt.

"But I didn't summon you to discuss magic, no, I summoned you because I require you to save the kingdom from an evil force, one that threatens the world." Decker explained. "I'm sorry for your rough landing, it was the only way to bring you here, but onto buisness. The first step in your quest will be to free me-"

"Wait!" Shawn interrupted."We never agreed to anything!"

There was a pause on Decker's end. He seemed to be thinking.

"Very well. What would you require as payment?" Decker asked.

"What do you mean 'payment'?"

"Anything you want I can give." Decker sounded confident.

"Anything?" Ryan grinned.

"Yes."

"Well, I want your finest bacon." Ryan thought for another moment. "And cookies. Preferably chocolate chip."

"Are you serious?" Decker said.

"Anything you want?" Ryan asked Shawn.

"I guess some cake would be okay." He shrugged. "Doesn't matter what type."

"Are you serious?!" Decker shouted.

"Yeah." The duo said simultainously.

Decker muttered something under his breath that sounded suspicously like "heroes" and sighed.

"As I was saying, you will need to free me in order to have a chance of fighting the evil that has plagued my land. I am located inside the very place I grew up in , the royal palace in the middle of the kingdom. Ironic, no? But you will need supplies to achieve the goal. The town ahead of you should be able to provide them." Decker paused. "I should tell you that most of the residents of my kingdom have been kidnapped but they wouldn't mind helping you."

"Where are they?" Ryan asked.

"I...I do not know..." Decker answered. "With the foe we are dealing with, he could have done anything to them."

"Does this thing have a name?" Shawn asked.

"If he does we do not know it," Decker answered. "People have come to call him The Dark One."

"When you are done gathering supplies head out the south gate. The Tutores will show you the way." Decker explained.

"Tutores?" Ryan asked.

"The guardians of towns on Atlantis." Decekr said."If you do not have any other questions then I suggest you be on your way."

"Thanks." Shawn said.

"Thank you, your majesty." Ryan said.

The duo tapped the button again and the king's voice halted.

"Your majesty?" Shawn asked, raising a eyebrow.

"It seemed like the right thing to say!" Ryan answered, shrugged.

Shawn shook his head and marched into the village.

It was small, with only eight houses dotted the land. The homes were elborate and crafted from wood, but were empty as Decker had said.

"What should we look for?" Ryan asked.

"Weapons. Food." Shawn stated.

The friends separated and headed into the homes. There was little success. It seemed that when the residents were taken, the Dark One had also taken anything of value.

Ryan only managed to find one loaf of bread and Shawn only found a raw slice of bacon. It wasn't until they went to the largest house that they finally found some items of use; namely food and weapons. A small chest had been located behind a staircase and from it a bow and arrows had been found along with a sword.

"What do you want?" Ryan asked, examing the weapons.

"The bow. I'm better at archery anyway." Shawn tested the string on the bow.

"Okay." Ryan sheathed the sword and attached it to his side.

They excited the house and immediatly came into contact with another zombie. It moaned and lunged at Ryan who had enough time to elbow it in the face, knocking it off pace.

"How did it get in here!?" Ryan shouted, drawing his new sword.

"Why are you asking me!?" Shawn retorted.

The zombie rose back up and lunged once agian, but Ryan swung his sword chopping off one of the zombie's hands. It didn't seem to care and continued before being pined to the ground by a gray blur.

A grey wolf with a red leather collare had knocked the zombie down and was currently knawing on its throat. Two more wolfs quickly joined in on the attack and in a moment the zombie was dead...again.

The wolves turned and the first one that attacked growled at the duo.

"No. Sudden. Moves." Shawn whispered.

"But there so _cute_!" Ryan gushed.

"There is a time and place for everything, Ryan and now is not the time to fawn over animals." Shawn stopped as the smaller of the wolves came over and smelled his hand.

It barked at the other two and went over to Ryan smelling his hand aswell. Ryan had to resist the urge to vigorously rub its head and call it cutesy names.

"What's it doing?" Ryan asked.

'I don't know!" Shawn said.

The wolf barked at the duo and inclined its head to another arch.

"I think it wants us to follow it." Ryan explained.

"Are you sure?"

"Hey, maybe there the Tutores!" Ryan said.

"Really? Them? There-" Shawn was cut off as the lead wolf barked and almost seemed to nod its head.

"See? He agrees with me." Ryan said, smug.

"Whatever." Shawn snapped.

The lead wolf and the smaller wolf led the way out of the town with Shawn and Ryan close behind. The wolves followed a small path made of gravel, before finally coming to a stop at a stone staircase that led onto a stone pathway that was surounded by nothing. Upon getting closer it turned out that a huge chunk of the bridge had been destroyed.

Shawn grimaced and pressed the button on his earpiece. "Hey, Decker? The bridge is out what do we do?"

"Of course the bridge is out," Decekr cursed. "Very well, there is a machine that was invented by a mage residing on that island you are on. It is capable of repairing the bridge.

"In order to get it you must turn around and head back to the village, this time exit out of the east gate. There, is a path that has been overgrown by time. It's barely visible, but folowing the path will lead you to a cave that contians a great libray that mages used and the machine you require."

Shawn tapped the button again. He explained to Ryan where to go then was about to go bakc when he heard a voice.

"-so I say, 'How dare you serve me this when I demanded carrots and peas!'. The farmer of course wasn't too happy about being bossed around and threw me out. I was enraged and had devoted the next few months of my life into ruining HIS life." The voice was like an annoying squel, loud and obnoxious.

Still it was a voice which ment somebody else was on Atlantis that hadn't been taken by the Dark One.

Shawn and Ryan ran toward the hill and after a harp turn came across a fat, pig and a black sheep.

"Uh..where did that voice come from?" Ryan asked.

"That would be me my dear, stupid, dim-witted, human friend." The pig spoke in the voice they had heard.

"Did that pig just talk?" Ryan exclaimed.

"No, it insulted us." Shawn said. "By the way 'dim-witted' and 'stupid' mean the same thing."

"Oh, are you sure?" The pig asked.

"Yes."

"Do you see, Nigel? Humans think there sooo smart and just _look _at them." The pig said to the sheep.

"And your just a embodiment of beauty." Shawn retorted.

"Why thank you." The pig said.

"So, uh, do you want to come with us?" Ryan asked. "You know, safety in numbers?"

The pig snorted in laughter.

"And what makes you think that the Dark One will attack me? I'm no human! Nigel and I are the safest right here!" The pig turned to the sheep. "Don't you agree Nigel?"

The sheep bleated then an arrow appeared in its head. The sheep toppled over the side of the island he had been standing near.

"Nigel! NOOOOO!" The pig squeled in shock.

"What is it with sheep dying in front of us?" Shawn asked, notching an arrow and pointing it at the other end of the patch.

"I don't know.." Ryan unsheathed his sword.

A skeleton lumbered into view and released another arrow this time hitting the ground beneath the pig's feet. The pig was too busy screaiming Nigel's name to notice this.

Shawn fired his arrow and it sunk into the bark of the tree the skeleton was beside. Ryan climbed up the hill, getting an idea to flank the skeleton while the skeleton was distracted by Shawn.

He got to the other side of the hill and immediatly came face to face with two more skeletons.

"WHOA!" He shouted, nearly tripping.

The skelton's immedialty focused and Ryan noticed somthing different about the one on the right. It's triangle had a bit more detail painted into it with miniture cirlces and lines.

"Kill him!" The skeleton with the different triangle shouted.

"I'm guessing that this one is the leader..."

**Ryan thought.**

The skeletons opened fire and Ryan responded with deflecting an arrow out of midair then slicing off the non-leader skeleton's head. The other skeleton hissed as its brother fell down the hill.

"You may have defeated my minion but I, Praetor the III, shall not fall so easily!" The skeleton proclaimed.

Meanwhile Shawn was firing off another arrow at the skeleton just as the pig finally recovered.

"How DARE you kill Nigel! He was my beast friend! I shall kill you!" The pig squeled.

And much to the shock of Shwn the pig sprouted tiny wings and attempted to fly at the skeleton. Attempted to was the key word since the pig was just to fat for his wings to support. thes keleton took advantage of this and shot the pig in its side. The pig squeled in pain before turning around and running off the edge.

"I'm not sure what to make of that..." Shawn stated.

The skeleton gave its two cents by firing another arrow at Shawn.

Shawn dove behind a tree, then using the hill, climbed up and took another shot at the skeleton. The arrow hit the skeleton's triangle square on.

He was about to move on when he saw Ryan kick a skeleton down the side of the hill.

Praetor scowled and notched an arrow before Ryan decended on him, slicing off one hand and the top half of the bow.

"You will burn for this treachery..." Praetor hissed.

"Standard villain line." Ryan muttered.

'Which is most often an empty threat since the villain is about to die." Shawn added.

"Huh, guess you right." Ryan acknowledged and decapitated Praetor.

"So where did the pig go?" Ryan asked.

"It fell off the edge after getting shot." Shawn explained, shrugging.

"So, back to the cave?" Ryan suggested.

"I guess so."

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When they got back to the town they discovered the Tutores had already gone back. The duo left out the east gate and traversed the the overgrown path, Decker had spoken about. When he said 'overgrown by time' they had thought he meant the weeds were going wild but in actuality they were the beginings of more hills.

So, they traveresed their way over and around the path before comng across a small cave entrance, with a _Danger: Tread with Caution._

"Omnious." Shawn observed.

"Ready?" Ryan asked.

"I guess so..."

They walked down the stone steps and into the dark cave, not knowing the horros that awaited there...


	3. Book I: Chapter 3

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As soon as they had entered they encountered a small chest. In it, they found some mediaval toches that instead of a flame at the tip had a small, orange orb that was giving off a faint glow. Another few steps and the earpieces beeped.

"Heroes, I should warn you, it never occured to me since I lived here my whole life but there's a reason it is called the Kingdom of the Sky-" Decker began.

"-And there are some small holes that we should look out for?" Ryan finshed. "We kinda figured."

"Er, yes, well, I should warn that there may be one or two spiders down in that cave." The message beeped, signaling its end.

"Did he just warn us about spiders?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah," Shawn replied. "Guess somebody has some arachnophobia."

They ventured forth and immediatly found a small shack that appeared was abanded and held nothing except some dusty beds. Was just came around the corner of the shack was for more intersting: a skeleton and a zombie.

Ryan charged right at the zombie unsheathing his sword and slashed off both the zombie's hands before stabbing it through the stomach. The zombie moaned and toppled over. Shawn meanwhile ran across to the other side of the tuunle they were in and fired an arrow which, like the others before it hit the skelton in the head.

The assualt didn't stop as another skelton loomed around the corner at the end of the tunnel and shot an arrow which whished past Shawn head. A warm sensation fell across his cheek and he ginerly touched, before pulling the fingers away to see red across the fingertips.

"Ow..." He grumpled.

Ryan rushed forward and without thinking slied the skeleton in half.

"Thanks." Shawn said.

"your welcome. You okay?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, fine." Shawn pulled out an emergency bandaid he kept in his pocket and slapped it across the cheek.

"See? All better."

Where the skeleton had been stading was a small stream of water beyond that, darkness.

Shawn and Ryan lit the torches they had acquired and trudged through the water. They came across another tunnel and continued down before a new monster appeared.

This one was tall and thin, with no arms but four legs, one apir in front of the other, and colored a sickly green. It's mouth was gaping and it had bright red eyes.

"What is that?" Shawn asked, backing up.

"I don't know!" Ryan responded then charged.

He hacked at the creature, knocking it back, but it oddly didn't bleed. In fact the creature let out a grand hissing noise. Ths hissing was different from a snakes and more akin to fuse being lit.

"Ryan get back!" Shawn cried, grabbing his friedn by the hood and yanking him back.

The creature swelled and exploded leaving a small crater where it used to be.

"What was that?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know..." Shawn looked at the crater. "Let's keep moving."

As they contiued on they began notice more and more spiderwebs. This did not diswade them as the duo continued on but suddenly came across a dead end that had an entire section of a wall gone. Crawling around in front of the section was a spider...that was at least two feet tall.

"Whoa!" Shawn exclaimed.

The spider turned around and hissed before scurring over. Ryan leaped forward and drove his sword into the spiders head.

"Well now I understand Decker's warning..." Shawn stated.

Ryan didn't respond.

"Ryan?" Shawn said.

He looked into where Ryan was staring and nearly had a heart attack.

Inside was a humongous spider that was at ten feet tall, with four eyes that glowed red.

"You know I think I'm becoming an arachnophobic..." Ryan said.

"Humans!"

A voice called out. It was an odd voice combining aspects of clicking and speaking.

"Hello?" Ryan called out.

"How dare you tespass on this sacred ground!"

The voice sounded angry.

_"This cave is property of the Weaver of Darkness, Lolth!"_

"Who?" Shawn asked, looking around.

"I have been charged with guarding this cave and when The Dark One finally rises then I shall rewarded!"

The voice said.

It now occured to them that the voice they were hearing was speaking inside their minds and also that whoever was speaking was quite close.

Shawn looked at the giant spider.

Very close.

"You humans deserve what The Dark One has in prepared afor you!"

"And why do we deserve this?" Ryan asked.

"You cursed me with this wretched form!"

The voice howled with rage.

_"I was once a beautifull maiden, a skilled weaver who's tapestries were sought all across the land. Then I was asked to weave a tapestry for the king and I made one that was the highlight of my work, but, the knig wasn't happy! No! He told me his wife would not take this and left. Angry I made another tapestry showing him as his trus self: An ignorant pig who know no art! He inturn cused me for my imputence by having his court mage turn me into a spider and banish me from his sight. All I could do for years was curse until SHE came...Lolth. She promised me revenge against the king and while, the curse was irreversible she did enlarge me to become what you see now-"_

The spider-because it was the spider- stopped monologing and looked around. Shwan and Ryan were nowhere to be found.

The spider screamed.

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The duo had snuck around the spider and had found a small cave,wchich contiued into the cave. The torches glow was orange on the walls and it wavered slgihtly when they heard the spider scream.

"I think she's mad..." Ryan stated.

"No, really? I thought that was a scream of joy." Shawn said.

"Kill them my children! Wash the walls with their blood!"

The spider's mental voice echoed.

"Children?" Ryan asked. "More of those spiders?"

"Let's keep moving."

That's when a squad of spiders, came from the mouth of the cave and scuttled towards them.

Shawn readied his bow and began firing. Some of his shots missed, others missed. It didn't seem to faze the spiders that theor own family was being slaughtered, but every time one spider fell another took its place. Ryan couldn't do much except stand still and attack any spider that got near.

Shawn fired another shot when a spider suddenly appeared on the ground before him. He took one look at the red eyes and couldn't help but notice the look of malice.

Deciding not to bother with notching the arrow he simply grabbed it and plunged the tip straight into the creatures face, kicking its writhing corpse to the side.

Ryan did not notice as he was busy wiht slicing off the head of another spider that had wandered close. Three more spiders fell on him and he swung his sword in an arc, one spider was caught but the other two hissed and scrambled away. Two arrows thudded into their abdomens and Shawn carefully reloaded.

"I'm getting tired, how about you?" Ryan asked, backing up close to his friend.

"Same. My arms feel like lead." Shawn fired another shot that missed the spider.

The spiders continued advancing, their lines seeming endless when suddenly they stopped. Now that they weren't moving it looked like the entire entrance of the tunnel was covered in a black shadow.

"What's going on?" Shawn asked.

"How should I know?" Ryan retorted. "My kind of animals are fluffy and four legged."

As one the enitre army of spiders turned right back around and scrurried off.

"What happened?" Ryan did not sheathe his sword.

"Two things: one, that queen spider called them back but since we didn't hear anything that is unlikely. Two, something scared them off." At that he looked down the tunnel.

"So, want to go meet whatever it is then?"

"Of course I do." Shawn said with quite a deal of sarcasm.

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They conttinued to walk and quickly found a set of old, decrept, stone steps tat forced them to jump in between gaps. The floor they came seemed to be in the same condition. So they hopped around like a pair of rabbits and quickly saw rows of bookshelves.

They had found the library, now they just needed the device.

Shawn carefully manuvered his way towards a small doorway that held no door. Inside was nothing...except a tall, pale man in a suit.

When Shawn held up his torch he saw that the pale man was over six feet tall, with black suit and tie and no face. No nose, eyes, mouth or even ears.

"Creepy statue..." Shawn muttered.

"Yeah, kinda lifelike." Ryan remarked, having followed.

They moved on and did not notice the two spiders that were fleeing as fast as there legs could carry them.

Nor did they notice the 'statue' turn its head and watch them walk away.

The library did not hold anything that seemed significant but another set of stairs that were in far better condition than the ones at the front had been found. The steps led into fenced lined, view of the kingdom. A glass window displayed some type of machinery and right beside the window was a button.

"You found it!" Decker said as he contacted the duo. "I never had any doubts." He sounded like he had quite a few. "I guess those stories of the spiders were greatly exagerated?"

"You never told us they were half our size!" Shawn yelled.

"I thought that was obvious. How big are the spiders on your kingdom?"

"The smallest I've seen are as big as a grain of sand and the largest is as big as my fist." Shawn explained, miffed.

"Really?" Decker sounded surprised. "What a peaceful place!"

"I guess so..." Shawn admitted.

"Anyway, if you press that button then the bridge will be immediatly repaired." Decker continued. "When you're done go around the corner and there will be a path to the surface."

Ryan tapped the button and there was a grinding noise as outside, the bridge suddenly began to expand, block by block. Ryan and Shawn walked down the hallway and came across a stone wall, no pathway.

"I wonder..."

Ryan pulled a lever that was in front of him and a sudden set of stairs collapsed from the ceiling and smacking right into Shawn's face.

"Whoa! You okay?" Ryan asked.

"Fine, absolutly fine." Shawn grumbled, holding his nose.

They ascended the steps and saw that the sun was beginning to set.

"Been in there a while..."

Shawn thought.

Decker voice speaked up again.

"Ahead of you is the tower of the Silver Legion. The Legion was Atlantis' main army and were in charge of protecting the citizens...though I guess they didn't do too good of a job. Inside you should find armor and weapons, if you need to resupply." Decker explained. "When you're done here go to the winged bridge and activate it."

"You know, he's awfully bossy..." Ryan said.

"He's a king, he's used to getting his way." Shawn said.

The tower was tall and imposing, made of grey stone and surrounded by hills. A strange crest-a sword set between two feathered wings-was plastered right on the door and the top of the tower.

They didn't have much time to admire the outside as thunder rumbled across the sky and curtains of rain began to fall.

"Ah, Crap!" Ryan shouted.

"Get inside!" Shawn shouted back rushing towards the wooden door of the tower.

Inside was a small area that didn't have any distinguishing features. A large puddle of water began to take shape around them and the duo began to shiver from the dampness of thier clothes.

"Wait a minute, how is it raining if the loud's are beneath us?" Shawn asked.

"...magic?" Ryan suggested.

"Yeah, well, can this magic get me dry?" Shawn yawned. "And find me a good bed?"

"Probably." Ryan anwsered.

"There might be beds here." Ryan said.

He led Shawn up the steps and into what appeared to be an observatory as a tow couches were seated right in front of large windows. Up another floor was a set of bookcases and a door that led into a simple bedroom. Shawn immediatly passed out on the bed. Ryan contiued up and saw a large mural with a beautifull garden as the subject on the wall. beside that was a door, which had a similiar bedroom to the one downstairs.

Ryan, like Shawn, was asleep before he hit the bed.

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_And just in case your wondering that spider's name was Arachne._


	4. Book I: Chapter 4

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The two friends had the same dream that night.

They dreamed of a gigantic, golden dragon fighting an equally as huge mutlicolored dragon, in a black void. The dragons rammed into each other, breeathed jets of flame and the multicolored one sapt something that looked suspicously like acid.

And through all this Shawn and Ryan watched, unaffected by the stray attacks that hit them.

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The next morning they had eaten some of the bread they had brought for the journey. They managed to find a small chest and in it some black coats, which didn't make much sense to them.

"Coats?" Shawn asked, bemused. "We are fighting the legions of the undead and they give us coats?"

"They look nice." Ryan said, sliding his on. "And maybe they've got some magic properties."

Shawn grunted, but still put his coat on.

Outside they saw that the rain had slowed to a light drizzle and were about to move to the small bridge near the tower when one of those skinny, green things appeared out of nowhere and hissed. Shawn was just pulling an arrow back when the creature exploded right in front of them.

_"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead..."_ Shawn thought.

Stangely he didn't feel dead. He opened his eyes and saw a small crater in front of him and looked down at his body. There was no sign of damage.

Ryan had a smug smile plastered on his face.

"Just coats, eh?"

"Shut up."

Ryan cockiness faded as soon as he saw that the bridge ended adrubtly.

"Really?" Shawn asked, no one in particular. He tapped his earpiece. "Hey, Decker? We have a problem."

"Is it another broken bridge?" Decker asked.

"...yeah."

"I expected as much. When there's one broken bridge there's usually more." Decker said.

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Ryan asked.

"I was hoping I was wrong." Decker paused. "Anyway, when you got here you should have seen some floating balls of lava. Those are Vokai, controlled by the magi of the kingdom, they provide Atlantis with all its energy and more importantly, to the bridge. It seems that some are not entirely active and so that's where your next objective is. Tell me is there a torch with a red orb at its tip?"

"No." Ryan answered.

"Well you'll have to find that to. Behind you is the Great Skywalk, that will lead you to your goal. To get their you'll have to cross the chains that hold the islands together.

"Now some of them may be missing a link or two but I assure you that the one's that aren't are perfectly safe and when you're done crossing get into the Hold of the Silver Legion. Also please don't fall, I'd rather not have my rescuerers die by slipping. That wouldn't be very heroic."

"Thanks for that lovely prep talk, chief." Shawn said as Decker signed off.

"You know this is like some RPG." Shawn looked at Ryan. " I mean in those games there's always something in your path, preventing you from reaching your goal."

"You know, your right." Shawn started walking." Good thing we have plenty of expierence."

They saw the skywalk and had to admit it deserved the name "Great". It was huge, strecthing over one-hundred feet across the land. AS they got clsoer to the side of the island they were on they noticed the large black chain that was attached to another chunk of land.

"I'll go first." Shawn offered.

"Try not to look down." Ryan suggested.

"Thanks." Shawn said.

The rain from last night had definetly made the chains slippery and so Shawn proceded very, very slowly to make sure he didn't fall. It turned that he could not look straight ahead without tripping so he was forced to look down. The drizzle didn't help all that much, obscuring his view.

Eventually he made it over and motioned for Ryan to come join him.

Ryan also started to go slowly, before getting slightly impatient and moving of a fraction of pace faster. His foot slipped and he found himslef balancing on one foot, swinging his arms up and down so it looked like he was trying to fly, over a drop that would end in sheer death.

Shawn looked panicked and was about to go over when Ryan finally got his foot on the link. Ryan gave him a thunbs up and went back to work.

Shawn gave a sigh of relief.

After regrouping they climbed a set of hills and found another chain. Ryan groaned in dismay.

Ahead of the chain was a floating structure that was made out of grey stone taht looked like the tower they had slept in. The Hold.

the cahins tis time around were a little less frightning ( though Ryan did go slower then Shawn) and with a final jump they were inside a tight corridor, illumineting by glowing cubes in the walls. The corrior opened up into the world through two windows and a small archway led them into a room with a lever. Ryan experimentally flicked it down.

Nothing happened.

"Are you on the Skywalk yet?" Decker asked.

"No, were still in the hold." Shawn said. "There's a switch in front of us and when we flick it nothing happens."

"Wellll...I can tell you the Silver Legion had four parts to their code of honor and tended to do things in fours. If there's one switch threre's bound to be three more." Decekr explained. "Look around, they have to be somewhere."

While Decker had been speaking Ryan had been contiously flicking the switch, rather loudly. Shawn gave a quick slap to the back of the head to stop. Ryan gave a silent "ow" then slapped Shawn back. Soon a miniture slap war had started and stopped when Decker stopped speaking.

It didn't take long for the duo to find the switches as they had been placed right out side the windows of the corridor. They was a grinding noise and a new doorway appeared.

"Success." Ryan said.

Inside the door way was another stairway that led straight into a bigger room dominated by a massive mural taht depicted a peaceful garden, full of vegatation.

"Ooh, ooh, take my picture!" Ryan shouted and stood in front taking a dramatic pose.

"With what?" Shawn replied. "I"ve got no camera. Do you just want me to say 'click' and-" A white screen suddenly appeared in front of his eye, on the same side as he had placed the earpiece. There was a flash and a picture of Ryan standing in front of the painting appeared.

"These things are cameras!?" Shawn exclaimed.

"Really?" Ryan asked. "There like an iPod and a bluetooth rolled into one."

The screen disppeared and they continued walking. Outside the Hold, a chain was just a few feet away and led to what looked like to some crypt type building.

"Great." Ryan muttered upon seeing the chain was the only way across.

So they crossed another chain and found themselves in the crypt with barely any light and at first thoguht they were safe when a zombie lumbered forward. An arrow wizzed by and Ryan charged into battle making short work of the zombie. The skeleotn was abit harder as they couldn't see but Shawn finally found it and fired an arrow through its head.

The duo lighted the torches they had and continued up the steps of the crypt. A skeleton blocked their path but this one was different. It like, Praetor, had a much more intricate symbol on its skull and its eye sockets glowed malicously.

"So, you are the mighty humans chosen to stop my master? Well your journey ends here for I, Praetor IV, shall end your journey-" Ryan promplty kicked it in the exposed ribs sending the skeleton up the stairs. It whimpered as it got up.

"You shall not kill me today, heroes!" And with that Praetor ran up furthur into the temple.

Ryan and Shawn climbed up the steps.

"So, I'm guessing those Praetor things are sub-bosses?" Ryan said.

"Not a very difficult boss." Shawn mused.

They met another zombie up the steps but it was no problem for the two. They were getting used to whole combat thing and were actually gettingquite good, at least in their eyes.

They continued to climb the steps but stopped upon seeing another one of those strange statues at the top of the steps. It looked like the last one they had seen.

"Wierd place to put a statue." Ryan said.

"Wierd piece of art." Shawn studied the statue.

Ryan gave it an experimental poke and when the statue didn't responf they moved on.

The statue slowly turned its head and looked a the two as they ascended the steps. Ryan felta chill go up his spine and he looked back at the statue.

It was still in its original position.

Ryan frowned then hurried to catch up to Shawn.

The statue slowly turned around, full this time and watched the two as they climbed.

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After one last flight of stairs they finally made onto the Skywalk. It was a long, corridor but justa few feet away was a small gap in the side of the Skywalk.

Underneath the gap was the town they had orginally were at.

"Are you there yet?" Decker asked.

"Yes." Shawn said.

"Good, do you see the gap?" Decker asked.

"Yeah." Shawn replied.

"When you activate the Vokai this is the fastest way down." Decker said.

"What." Shawn exclaimed.

"Oh don't worry it's just a hundred feet drop." Deckr reassured them.

"And that is such a small distance, isn't it?" Shawn said.

"It's into water! Stop being such a baby!" There was a beep on Decker's end.

"...jerk." Shawn muttered.

The duo continued their journey across the Skywalk and after going down some more stairs found themselves in a desert. the heat slapped them in the face when they arrived and they immediatly felt parched. They quickly dsicovered that perhaps they were dressed too warmly.

"There yet?" Decker asked.

"Where are we supposed to even go?" Ryan asked.

"Well you'll need to turn on all the Vokai and then acquire the keystone for the bridge." Decker explained.

"Yeah but where can we find them?" Shawn asked.

"The entrances are...they're in the...I have absolutely no idea. I'm sure you can find them thoguh, just look around." Decker said. "By the way could you speed things up? You too are slower than my grandmother...no wait, my grandmother's actually faster then you are."

"...That better be a damn good cake." Shawn muttered.

"Still don't think this is like a RPG?" Ryan asked.

"No."

Ahead of the two, were two erected white tents. Inside was just two beds and a chest containing some water (they took that), coal (they took that as well) and some species green sludge (Ryan gave it a carefull prod with his finger and left it where it was).

The frinds went down the hill and across a short stretch of sand they discovered another tent with a fire currently blazing in the sand. AS they got cloaser they began to notice the Vokai, large glowing balls of orange suspended over a mountain of sand.

"Wanna split up and cover more ground?" Shawn suggested.

"Sure."

So searching took up a better part of an hour as they swept across the desert. As Shawn paused to geta drink of water his foot suddenly slipped right off tthe edge he was standing on and he fell in front of a cave.

"Ryan!?" He called.

"Yeah!?"

"Found it!"

Ryan was beside Shawn in a matter of minutes.

They descended down and quickly discovered that he cave appeared to hav ebeen recently dug out, from the sand that covered the limestone floor. At first things were beginning to look peaceful since not single creature appeared until arrows began to fire.

The duo made their way through the squad of skeletons and descended furthur into the cave.

"You know this is getting kind of easy." Ryan noted.

"Yeah. Guess we got lucky." Shawn said.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs they encountered another squad of skeltons but at the front was Praetor.

"Heroes! I have returned to fufill my vengeance-"

"Hey, it's that one who ran away from us!" Ryan said. "What was your name? Prim?"

"I AM PRAETOR IV!" Praetor cried, enraged.

"Right, I was close." Ryan said.

"No you weren't." Shawn repiled.

"SILENCE!" Praetor gestured at the skeletons."KILL THEM!"

The skeletons obeyed and fired but the friends were too quick. Shawn dove behind a corner and began to return fire while Ryan simply charged in ahead swinging his sword. He and Shawn mangaed to kill four skeletons before Praetor could react.

"Defend me!" Praetor pointed at the remaining skeleton then fled.

Ryan made an attempt at pursuit but the skelton blocked his path. Shawn took tat moment to fire and accidnetly hit Ryan in the back.

"OW!" Ryan yelled. The arrow had bounced off but it had still left a throbbing pain. He turned to Shawn." Why'd you shoot me!?"

"You got in my way!" Shawn protested. He nocked an arrow and fired again hitting the skeleont who had been advanicng on the unsuspecting Ryan. "Your welcome."

"...Thanks."

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Praetor only stopped running when he was surrounded by his kin, furthur down the tunnel.

_"This is terrible! Nothing can stop these humans from advancing and he told us they had never received a proper day of military training in their lives!" _Praetor clacked jaw in anticipation. _"I will die again if this keeps up...and I can't have that, I'm _far _too important to die._

"...Perhaps The Dark One could help. It's risky, but it will teach these humans not to mess with me."

And with that he began chanting in a different language.

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Surprisingly they did not encounter any more problems on the way down.

They exited the tunnel and came onto a small tight room that had a wooden bars crisscrossing as one wall. On the other side they could see some zombies and skeletons moving around.

"Oh joy." Shawn muttered.

"Come on it will be just like the others!" Ryan said.

They opened the door and a battle began.

Ryan cleaved through zombies as they advanced on him, dodging arrows while Shawn provided so much cover fire that he rarely had his bow empty of an arrow.

Just a little ways ahead of them was a squad of skeltons forming a tight circle around something that appeared to be glowing.

Shawn caught Ryan's eye and nodded. He fired an arrow that hit one skeleton adn while they focused on him Ryan rushed forward and sliced right through two at once. The other turned and was immediatly taken down by another arrow.

Ryan looked at the glowing object and immediatly recognized it as a skeleton.

The skeleton had its hands held up in the air and was cahnting some strange language, glowing a sick green color.

_"What's it doing?" _Ryan thought. _"Ah, who cares!" _

He charged and the skelton stopped chanting. The glowing traingle on tis head identified it as Praetor but the tatto now was crimson and his eyes were now even brighter than before.

**"VOX OF DAMNO!"**

He yelled out in a heavily distorted voice that echoed in itself.

From the skeletons body thick, white wisps of smoke shaped like skulls suddenly erupted from its body. They slammed into Ryan and engulfed his body.

"Ryan!" Shawn yelled before also being swept up by the attack.

The attack ploughed right through the bars and the opposite wall before leading straight out onto the surface.

Praetor collapsed on his knees and weakly laughed.

"That will show them... not to mess...with...me..." He blinked and looked down at his hands.

They were gone and as he watched his arm begun to slowly turn to dust. His whole body was going through the process and before he hda time to react in fear Praetor IV was gone in the wind.

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	5. Book I: Chapter 5

_Sorry for the dealy...just got hit with a bit of writer's block._

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_Wake up._

There was a brief movement in the eyes.

_Your friend needs you. Do you wish for him to die?_

With a groan he struggled up and immedialty howled in pain. Every muscle. evey nerve, every bone burned with a fiery pain.

But he did not fall.

_Good. Seek out the Mad One's hidden treasure to replenish all that was lost._

He attempted to think up a question to ask the voice but could only manage _"aaarrrrggghhh"._

Ryan slowly, with great effort, stood up. He surveyed his body to check the damage.

The coat and weapons he had found had been destroyed, and his clothes were torn but he was alive...somehow.

He looked around him and found that they were right outside the house at the entrance of the desert.

"How did we get here?"

Ryan thought.

He frowned as if trying to remember something.

"Was someone...speaking to me?"

He racked his brains and gave up after deciding that he must have imagined it.

He looked over and saw Shawn in a similar condition to himself and rushed over to make sure his friend was okay.

He nearly collapsed from the effort of that short distance.

"What the...damn!"

He thought as his legs suddenly gave out.

_"Whatever that Potatoe guy did to me was really effective."_

He checked Shawn over and frowned.

"Better get him inside,"

He placed one arm around his friend's shoulders and hoisted him up.

_"Don't want those skeletons or zombies finding us."_

He took one step forward and faltered in pain. He could barely support his own weight, what made him think he could support Shawn's as well?

But still he pressed on, taking slow steps until he finally got inside the house. He layed Shawn across one bed and suddenly stopped.

He glanced out side and his stomach did a flip-flop.

A zombie had just sauntered by right where they had been sleeping.

If they hadn't woken up could they have actually..?

"No don't think about that," he muttered to himself.

He collapsed on the other bed and almost immediatly fell back to sleep.

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Shawn woke up soon after and saw that Ryan was also awake.

"He-" He inhaled sharply.

"Hurts like hell, right?" Ryan stated.

"Wh-what happened?" Shawn managed, through gritted teeth.

"That Pringles guy cast some spell." Ryan said, casually as if answering what time it was.

"Pringles?" Shawn asked.

"I think that's what his name was, I can't remember, plus I like Pringles." Ryan paused. "I'm hungry."

"Me too."

Shawn noticed that Ryan had dug out the green sludge from earlier had a small chunk was missing from it.

"Did you-?" Shawn started.

"It's edible, I think, plus I'm feeling better already from eating it." Ryan took another bite and tossed it to Shawn. "Have some."

"Um..." Shawn flinched from catching the sludge and looked at it. "Are you sure it's not like some boot polisher?"

"It's good boot polisher then." Ryan shrugged. "Just eat it, it's the only food we have."

Shawn was about to make another retort when his stomach grumbled. He took a experimental bite before decidng to just shove it all in his mouth.

"I wanted some more..." Ryan said, sadly.

"Sorry." Shawn said.

There was some silence. Shawn tried to move but his muscles refused to.

"So...what now?" Shawn asked. "No weapons, no armor not even those funny things that we used to talk with."

"Seek out the Mad One's treasure." Ryan said.

"Who?" Shawn asked.

Ryan blinked. "What?"

"Who's the Mad One?" Shawn asked.

"I don't know." Ryan shrugged.

"But you said his name." Shawn explained.

"Did I?" Ryan asked.

"Never mind," Shawn said. "The point is that we are don't stand a chance."

"So?" Ryan said.

"Ryan did you not here what I just said? We're up against the legions of the undead, a being who can kill us at any given point and our only ally in this is some king who's only use is pointing us in the right direction and then groaning about how we haven't rescued him yet." Shawn looked up at the sealing. "I'm surprised we made it this far..."

"...So what? Heroes face off against those kind of odds every day. In fact, that's what I believe defines a hero: they face impossible odds and come out on top."

"Ryan, we are not heroes." Shawn gestured with his hand. "We're nobody."

"Well we're heroes now. We may not like it, but this duty has been given to us by somebody and I am at least going to try fufill that goal." Ryan stood up and extended a hand to Shawn. "Now are you going to come with me?"

Shawn looked at him for a second then took the hand.

"I hope you don't get us killed."

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Shawn carefully moved down into the tunnel they had been in before, Ryan close behind him.

Suspicously, there had not been a single monster that had tried to stop them.

"Did they all run away? Or are they somewhere deeper in the tunnel?"

Shawn thought.

The duo continued on and quickly discovered the fenced in area.

It was very different from there last time through here. A gigantic chunk of the wall opposite the fence was completely gone and on the other side of the fence the solid ground that had been there was now ripped up into small pieces.

"What the hell happened?" Shawn asked, looking at the wreckage.

"Whatever spell Priss used." Ryan guessed.

He looked down and saw that they must have been at the bottom of the island as the floor dropped off into the clouds.

"You first." Ryan suggested.

Shawn measured the distance and made a jump. He landed on the next piece of land and almost collapsed.

"Crap!"

_"My injuries hadn't been bothering me so badly before, why now!?"_Shawn thought.

Shawn looked ahead of himslef and blinked. Over, imbedded in the wall, was a chest. It was rather odd because it had been placed right where there was a natural ledge and it would not have been seen unless the floor had been destroyed.

"Shawn are you okay!?" Ryan yelled.

"Yeah! I just wanna check something!"

Shawn got up and began to make his way over to the chest, having to stop several times to catch his breath, but he managed to finally get to where the chest had been placed.

It was a simple chest, light brown and not locked, which struck him as odd.

"Is this like some buried treasure?"

He thought.

_"Is this gonna be like most other RPG's where there is some monster hiding in the chest?"_

Cautiously Shawn opened the chest but did not find a monster. Instead there was a coat like the one's they had been wearing. Shawn blinked and picked the coat up.

He slid it on and when he suddenly didn't keel from some magic he relaxed...and then remebered that he was still in a very dangerous place.

"Shawn?!" Ryan called out.

"I'm fine!" He called back.

He hopped back and contiued forward before getting to the other side of the room. Ryan looked and after making sure his friend was okay prepared to jump when he heard a hissing.

Right beside him was that green, skinny thing and it was beginning to bloat. From his close spot Ryan could also smell...gunpowder?

He was however more focused on leaping away.

"OH CRAP!" Ryan yelled and dove straight onto a pile of sand.

The creature exploded and took out the platform, cutting off their way back.

"_Where'd that thing come from? It's just kinda_...creeped _up on me." _Ryan thought. He looked forward and saw that Shawn had already ascended the stairs at the exit.

Shawn meanwhile quickly discovered that the tall things made a excelent improvised weapons. With the coat on he would punch them while a mob of monsteres attacked and then turn his back to absorb the blast. When he turned around he discovered a satisfying hole and no monsters. This however left chunks in the ground that exposed air.

Ryan finally joined him as he made his way across the remaining ground. A zombie rushed at Ryan and he grabbed its outstretched arm and on instinct pulled. The decayed flesh gave away easily and Ryan kicked the zombie into the nearest hole.

"Found a weapon." Ryan noted, waving the arm. He noticed the coat Shawn wore. "Where'd you find that?"

"Some chest in the wall." Was Shawn's answer.

The duo made their way across the pockmarked land and came across the exit. It was a long corridor with a trail of lava spanning either side.

"This looks like a trap." Shawn said.

"...I'll go first." Ryan offered.

He looked down the hal, took a deep breath and ran down the hall, yelling at the top of his voice.

He turned around to discover Shawn calmly walking towards him.

"Was the scream necessary?" Shawn asked.

"Yes."

They turned a corner and found an eloborate room, where small pilars of stone dotted the place and lava ringed the ringed the room's outline. The main piece that got their attetnion was the gigantic blue square, that was fenced in. In front of the square were two levers.

"Wonder what these do?" Ryan asked.

"Why are you asking me?" Shawn retorted then flipped a switch.

A section of the wall promptley slid up and a square made of black stone with purple energy at the center stood.

"...I think this was the Vokai." Ryan said.

"And that must lead to the next one right?" Shawn gathered.

"Lead the way." Ryan said.

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	6. Book I: Chapter 6

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The duo repeated the process of turning on the Vokai for the next two portals. In the third they discovered that its portal had been destroyed frocing them to move on ahead through the portal. In the third room they also discovered a object that looked similiar to the torches they used except it had a ruby placed at the tip. Shawn and Ryan figured out it was the Keystone, partially because they remebered that it was supposed to be here and aslo because a sign above the object said "KEYSTONE: USE FOR REPAIRING".

The duo contiued on in silence until they saw another lever that when pulled brought the sand down so it exposed them to the desert.

"The sky! I missed you sky! I thought I would never see you again!" Ryan yelled, looking up at the object of his admiration.

"Come on." Shawn said.

Ryan however suddenly twitched.

"What?" Shawn asked. "Is it your injuries?"

"No...it felt like more like achill went up my spine." Ryan said.

Shawn shook his head and began walking, Ryan following.

Several miles away a tall skinny figure watched them as they walked away, despite having no eyes.

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"What now?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know, Decker usually called in after we completed whatever he wanted us to do but since out earpieces were destroyed he can't do that." Shawn said.

"We might as well go back to that village we started at and rest up. See if there is any supplies we missed."

"Oh I remeber!" Shawn snapped his fingers."He told us the fastest way to get back was to jump out the whole on the skywalk."

"...really?" Ryan asked.

"Yes." Shawn said.

"...yay." Ryan grunted.

So they retraced their steps back to the Great Skywalk and looked down the hole.

"How far do you think it is?" Shawn asked.

"Hundred feet?" Ryan scratched his chin. "Shouldn't hurt us too badly..." To himself he added, "I hope."

"On three we jump together." Shawn decided. "One..." Ryan tensed. "Two..." Shawn bounced on the balls of his feet. "Three!"

The duo made a dive into the water, causing a large pillar of water to rise up and then come crashing down. There was silence and then...

"OH GOD!" Ryan shouted, surfacing.

"IT BURNS!" Shawn added as he surfaced.

"THIS WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA!" Ryan yelled.

"BLAME DECKER!" Shawn retorted.

They yelled a bit more before going onto the land, sopping wet.

"You know I just realized something...why couldn't we have climbed down?" Ryan asked. "Yeah it wouldn't have been as fast but it would been...nicer."

Shawn groaned and smashed his face in the ground.

They rested for quite some time until the sun began to set and they were forced to go back to the town and sleep. The Tutores greeted them at the town's gate and escorted them to individual houses.

Morning came and Shawn sat at the table in his house, absentmindely munching on a piece of bacon he had salvaged.

"We are in such a poor state..."

Shawn miserably.

Ryan entered closely followed by one of the dogs, from the size it was the youngest.

"Guess what I found by my bedside?" Ryan said.

Without waiting for an answer Ryan placed two small items on the table. Shawn blinked and his eyes widened when he saw they were the earpieces.

"How?...Never mind." Shawn picked up the earpiece and placed it into his ear.

Instantly it beeped and Decker voice sounded out.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Decekr yelled. "I have been worried that you died and I would be imprisoned forever!"

"Your appreciation of our lives is much approved, Your Majesty." Shawn said.

Decker in his anger did not pick up the sarcasm and continued to chew them out for several minutes.

"You done?" Shawn asked after Decker finished his tirade.

"...Yes." Decekr replied. "Did you acquire the keystone?"

"Yeah, and it took a lot of trouble to get." Shawn said.

"Good attach it to the bridge and you should be able to continue." There was a beep to signal the converstion's end.

"What a nice guy." Shawn said.

"He could be far worse. He could be that Dark One he keeps talking about." Ryan suggested.

"Whatever. Let's go."

Shawn stood up and put on his coat before he heard a faint tinkling. Puzzled he placed his hand in his coat's pocket and extracted a crumpled piece of paper and two vials of glowing pink liquid. On the bottles were written strange symbols, one had a circle within a circle and other had a staff with snakes intertwined around it, a cadaecus.

He uncurled the note and read the untity sprawl of handwriting.

_Dear Reader,_

_If you are reading this then you must be the heroes that are destined to kill the Dark One. If you are not the heroes then please return this whatever you find to the chest it was originally in._

_Heroes, your path is long and arduos, I see many terrible things in store for you and so have decided to be of assitance. I have hidden other chests containing important itmes all acoss Atlantis to be used but you must discover the location on your own. I can not help in case whoever is reading this is an agent for the Dark One._

_Along with this armor you shall also find a potion of strenght and a potion of healing. Use them wisely._

_Best of luck,_

_Vucarik_

"I'm not sure what to make of this..." Shawn muttered.

"Come on!" Ryan shouted out, already out the door.

"Hold on!" Shawn shoved the note and vials back into his pocket and ran after his friend.

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They retraced their steps back to the bridge and Ryan placed the Keystone into the designated spot. The duo watched as the bridge slowly began to rebuild itself.

"Here, Ryan," Shawn held out the coat.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"You're the guy who's going to be doing all the hand-to-hand combat so you might aswell have the best armor." Shawn explained.

"Uh..thanks, but are you sure you don't need it?" Ryan slipped on the coat.

"Yeah, pretty sure." Shawn said. _"Especially if I can find another one of Vucarik's chests...if he actually _is _on our side." _

They watched as the bridge finished building itself and then walked across it. On the other side was a log cabin with a sign saying: SKYLAND ADVENTURE CO.

Seeing as the alternative was a dark cave right beside the house, they rushed inside and locked the door. One could nevr be too carefull when one doesn't have anything to defend himself with.

"You still alive?" Decker asked, beeping in.

"No, this is my ghost." Shawn retorted.

"Okay. Well, with that bridge fixed you can resupply at the house on your right or in the cave in front of you. Once you ared one with that there are two giant statues that you can't possibly miss, unless you are blind. The castle is right inbetween that." Decker said and then his voice stopped.

With that the duo quickly began to raid the house for supplies. They hit paydirt finding a sword, a bow and quiver, some uncooked fish and bacon and some more of those torchs.

"Do you know how to cook food?" Shawn asked.

"You don't?" Ryan said, surprised.

"I never knew." Shawn said.

There was an old fashioned stone stove in the house and Ryan busied himself with striking a fire with some coal he had found with the torches. Soon the cabin filled the smell of freshly cooked meat and Shawn's mouth watered at the sight.

_"Never realized I was this hungry.." _Shawn thought.

They dug straight into the food, tearing away at the meat with their bare hands and teeth. Their stomachs filled they settled back and relaxed for half an hour.

"Shouldn't we hurry?" Ryan asked.

"Not supposed to do any excersise for half an hour after eating." Shawn said, leaning back on his chair.

So they waited for what seemed to be half an hour and then left the cabin. Up ahead they saw stone statues that were at least fifty feet tall, depicting bare-chested men with shields and swords. Continuing forward on the stone pathway allowed them to see the castle. It was behind the statues and very eloborate, with a moat of _lava. _Unfortunely there was no clear way to cross the lava but beside them was a huge black stone and on one side of it was a stone button.

"If there's one thing this little adventure has taught me it's that puching buttons accomplishes quite a bit." Shawn stated.

He pushed the button and watched as a stone walkway rose up from the lava.

The duo walked closer to the gate and saw that wooden bars blocked the doorway.

"How do we-" Ryan was cut off as a burst of static suddenly hit their earpieces and a scratchy voice that sounded heavily disorted and echoing spoke.

**"Foolish mortals! You shall never enter this castle!"**

Decker's voice replaced the distorted voice.

"That's..._him..._the Dark One...he locked me up and sealed the doorway." Decker's voice was full of bile.

"...Is there a backdoor?" Ryan asked.

"Backdoor..? Oh, brillaint! The crypt! The crypt! He can't know about the crypt!" Decekr voice suddenly filled with enthusiasem. "Turn around and take a left at the statues. There's kind of a overhang that will lead you down a long corridor. A the end of the corridor is the crypt and through that you'll be able to rescue me...though ther is one itt bitty, teeny tiny, little task left but we'll deal with it when we get there."

"Yay..." Shawn muttered.

They took the king's instructions and found the overhang and with the overhang came more monsters. The tall, thing creatures that would sneak up on them, the roting zombies and the skeletal archers. Ryan and Shawn attacked them with ferocity but had to slow down from there injuries. Still the job was done and they went inside but suddenly Ryan stopped.

He looked around wildly and then behind them.

"Get down!" He hissed.

"What-" Ryan didn't let him finish and tackled him down behind a rock.

He looked out over from there rock.

He had felt the chill. Something was coming.

The air where they had been standing shimmered and the "statue" walked out. It dusted off its suit and looked at the cave entrance before hesitating. It looked a where Shawn and Ryan were for a long time and then left.

Wordlessly, the friends sttod up and carefully crept behind it after waiting for a certain period of time.

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	7. Book I: Chapter 7

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The trekk inside the cave was long and complicated. They were forced to climb over stones that could pass for small hills, dodge incoming monsters and had to stop repeatedly do to their injuries. Just to be safe, they also kept their distance from whatever that thing was, despite it not showing up they still did not want to take the risk.

At last they reached their destination at the sign that read: Tomb Of The Kings.

"I just realized how horrible of an idea this was." Shawn said.

"How so?" Ryan asked.

"Well..the Dark One has a lot of undead follwers and we're entering a crypt which holds all the dead bodies of the past kings." Shawn explained.

"Oh...we still have to go through." Ryan said.

"I know." Shawn said.

The duo climbed up the steps leading into the tomb and went into a tight corridor with eloborate graves on both sides of themselves. Surprisingly the corridor was completely lighted. The kings name was engraved right at the front, with a finely made robe and golden sword probbed against the grave. A book (possibly some religous novel) was laid out right at the foot of the grave.

Ryan grabbed the sword and unsheathed it. The blade glistened as if it had just been polished and not like it had been in the tomb for years.

"Nice sword." Ryan noted. He looked a the grave. "Mind if I keep it?"

"Who are you talking to?" Shawn asked.

"King..." Ryan looked at the name. "Leonidas the III."

"I doubt he'll answer you." Shawn said. "What with being dead and all."

Ryan ignored him and stood a the grave for another moment before walking away.

The other graves were similiar to the first except that the weaponry varied: sometimes it was an ax, sometimes it was a sword and even at one grave, a gardening hoe.

The duo made it through the crypt without harm and despite Shawn's fear, there was no sign of the undead. They passed through a door and passed a small shack that had been built into the wall-the sign beside it said Gravedigger's Quarters- and continued down another corridor that made it look like they were back in the crypt.

A the end of the corridor was a small, wooden, weather-beaten door. There was a torch blazing beside it and on the top of the door was a sign that read: WARNING! MAZE OF INSANITY AHEAD!

"Charming..." Shawn muttered.

"You made it!" Decker said. "I never had any doubt! Okay mayber a little.

"Anyway, remember that teeny, tiny little obstacle that I mentioned? Well, in order to access the castle you'll have to get past this little thing the people around the castle refer to as the 'Maze of Insanity'. It's not that bad though, they only say that because everyone who ever enters the maze has gone insane...even its creator, but that's just rumors!

I do know that it isn't an ordinary maze so take great caution."

And then Decker voice was replaced by the only other person they knew had their numbers.

**"Foolish mortal! When you do not make it through the maze I shall watch as you plunge into the pit of insanity!"**

The Dark One said, in his demonic voice.

"It's disturbing how much you were right about this being an RPG." Shawn said.

"I had to be right about something, didn't I?" Ryan said.

"So which way do-"

Shawn was cut off when he realized that Ryan had gone.

"What the..? Where the hell did he go?!" Shawn looked at the doorway and ran inside.

He saw stone steps leading down into the center of the floor and three sets of stairs leading up to various doorways.

_"Which one?" _Shawn wondered.

He climbed the steps and studied the doors before walking back down.

_"Can't go in the right one so, left or center?"_ Shawn looked at the doorways and then made his decision.

He walked into the left doorway and found himself in a room that was similiar to the room he had just exited.

"This is gonna be long and dedious..." Shawn sighed.

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Ryan was lost.

He had wandred into the the first doorway he saw and had thought Shawn was right behind him. When he turned around to ask why his friend was so quiet he discovered nothing but air. So he retraced his steps and quickly wound up in a room that was not the entrance.

Confused he continued to walk through the doorways and was wondereing if maybe rushing ahead wasn't a good idea when he smelled something like bacon.

Ryan's nose kicked into overdrive and he ran towards the scent, never thinking that this might be a bad idea.

He closed in on the smell and entered a room that was more like a cave. The walls were made of uneven stone, had old-fashioned cave paintings drawn on them and torches hung from the walls, casting dark shadows.

Ryan continued ont towards the smell and did not notice that there were some bones that were hidden in the shadows...or that the bones were not all animal.

He entered another chamber and saw that somebody had set up a campfire with slabs of meat cooking over the flames. This room was more well-lit then the first chamber and Ryan saw that there were some bones in this chamber aswell.

"Huh..?" Ryan picked up a bone that looked like a human femur and immediatly felt the ground shake.

Something was coming.

"MMMMOOOOOOO!"

Ryan dropped the bone and drew his sword, before suddenly realizing what he had just heard.

_"Moo? What kind of battle cry is that?" _Ryan wondered.

The owner of the shout stepped into view. It towered over ryan at eight feet, with a muscular body and massive hands. It's only article of clothing was a tatterd loincloth but what was really noticleble was the bull's head attached to the body. The horns themselves added another half a foot and the creature had a gold ring embedded around its nostrils. Its glowing red eyes focused on Ryan and he gulped.

_"Holy crap..." _Ryan thought, remembering what this was. _"The Minotaur..."_

"Mooo!" The creature bellowed.

It charged and Ryan dove to the side. The minotaur rebounded off the wall and with a snort lunged at Ryan. Ryan rolled and came up, trying to remember how it was killed in the myth.

_"Oh right...it was sleeping when that guy found it." _Ryan thought.

"Moooo!" The minotaur charged and managed to knick Ryan before he could dodge. The force sent him crashing into the wall and his sword flying away.

The minotaur, feeling triumphant, turned on Ryan and snorted. Ryan looked at the red eyes and suddenly came up with a plan.

"Hey, Steakman! Bet you can't hit me!" Ryan yelled.

The minotaur bellowed and charged. Ryan waited.

And waited.

When the minotar was three feet away Ryan dove to the side and the minotaur smashed into the wall. It stumbled back, looking dazed.

"Over here, Beefcake!" Ryan shouted.

The minotaur shook its head and zeroed in on Ryan before charging. Ryan waited once more and then dove to the side when the minotaur was three feet away. The minotaur this time tried to stop but slammed into the wall, again.

Ryan bounded forward and hopped onto the minotaur's back. The minotaur contiued to stumble around as Ryan climbed up to his head and when it realized it was wearing a living hat it shook its head madly. Ryan grabbed onto the horns on the minotaurs head for support and yanked back on them.

The minotaur howled and rushed forward, smashing right through the wall it had run into.

They were now in the beginning chamber and Ryan struggled up. Feeling something heavy in his hand he looked down to find one of the minotaurs horns had snapped off. The minotaur itself was moaning in pain and stared right at Ryan with hatred.

"Come and get me, uh, Loppy, I guess!" Ryan challenged.

The minotaur snorted (which Ryan was finding increasingly annoying) and stood up showing that one horn had been broken off right near the base.

"MMOOO!" It charged.

Ryan suddenly felt pain and fell to one knee.

_"Ah, not now!"_ Ryan thought in fear, gripping his ribs.

The minotaur, due to having one horn and thus being imbalanced, missed its intended target completely and instead hit the wall behind Ryan. It spun once, made a pitiful "moo" and collapsed.

Ryan went over to the collapsed man-bull and checked to see it's condition. It was out cold so he went back into the place where his sword was and noticed the chamber that the minotaur had entered through.

_"Must be where it sleeps..."_ Ryan thought.

He sheathed his word and entered to find patches of hay that were all grumpled from sleeping strewn all across the floor. He was about to brush the hay aside when a small piece of the rock at the back wall lifted up.

"Sweet!" Ryan said.

He went through the doorway and came across a intricate stairway designed like a double-helix.

_"Wonder what Shawn's doing?"_

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Shawn was frusterated.

The maze was, simply put, confusing. It had no common pattern or any indication of difference between rooms.

"If I could just find_the middle then I could probably find the exit. The center is always a key point in the maze design!"_Shawn thought as he entered another room.

The room he enetered looked almost exactly like the previous room he had just exited and he had the resit the urge to pull at his hair.

_"Come on think! There has to a method to get out!"_ Shawn thought.

He hunkered down and began to think.

After what felt like a few moments an idead hit him like a lightning bolt.

_"That's it!" _Shawn realized.

He went through the left hand door and entered another room like the last. Once again he went through another of the left hand doors.

_"If I keep going in one genreal direction I should hit a corner and from that corner I should be able to find the center." _Shawn thought.

He continued to go into more rooms and kept going in the left direction. After a painstaking wait Shawn grinned when he saw two of the three walls were blank. He went threw the only door.

It led him to the three rooms and Shawn headed straight in the center for every room.

It only occured to him that he found the exit when he saw the double helix staircase...and Ryan sleeping peacefully a the foot of the stair.

"Ryan!" Shawn yelled and kicked his foot.

"I didn't steal that cookie!" Ryan shouted and then promptly realized he wasn't dreaming.

"Where have you been?" Shawn asked.

"Fighting a cow." Ryan answered.

Shawn gave him a look and then sighed. "If it was anyone else I wouldn't believe them."

"At least we survived. Plus, we're getting close to going back home." Ryan said.

"I guess so." Shawn realized.

And together they climbed the stairs.

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	8. Book I: Chapter 8

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While they climbed the steps Decker contacted them.

"You made it! You should be proud of yourselves for doing something that no one else has ever done before." Decker exclaimed.

The duo got to the top of the steps and saw a very...odd scene. They expected skeletons and zombies to be prowling everywhere and yet it was pretty peacefull. The sun was shining, the grass looked freshly mowed, the houses were finely decorated with white walls and blue roofs with the tall stone wall of the castle in the background.

"This looks like a trap." Shawn said.

"Why is it so...nice here?" Ryan asked.

"The village before you is an odd case. It's inhabitants were not taken but instead were transformed into...something. They seem docile enough in this from but don't provoke them." Decker explained. "Anyway the entrance to the tower is near the main gate but I recommend stocking up on supplies while you are in the village."

"Final boss is coming up soon." Ryan said. "Right before the noble heroes confrontation with the big bad, the heroes are allowed a chance to a gather a large hord of goodies to use against the big bad."

"In other words, we're almost home." Shawn said.

"Guess so...but first we have too get down." Ryan noted.

The tower they entered did not seem too have any easy way down so they were forced to improvise and climb down a tree. They split up and went scouring for important items. Ryan was the first one to encounter the "transformed" villager.

It had a pig's face but walked upright with human hands and more disturbingly had rotted flesh.

_"It looks like a zombie.."_ Ryan thought.

He waved his hand in front of its face and was let out a yell when the zombie pigman grabbed his arm and then looked at him.

"S-sorry.." Ryan apologized.

The pigman looked at him for another momen then let go and sauntered off.

_"Did it look...sad?"_ Ryan thought.

They had a very good treasure haul from their tour of the village. It mostly included of bread and bacon (which made Ryan very happy) but they did manage to find some spare torches and even an additional coat for Shawn.

The next step was finding the entrance and that was actually a lot harder than it sounded because the entrance was rather small and hidden quite well in the tower. It lead into an eloborate hallway that lead them into the corridor.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Something had to go wrong. There had to be some ambush or dangerous trap waiting for them. It shouldn't be this simple. They were right.

The hallway they had been in led to another hallway that had been corroded away by the lava and at the end of the hallway was a small step leding straight into a pool of lava. A button was positoned in a way that made you want to press it. So Ryan did and a stone walkway sprung up from the lava. The walkway looked safe...for first few seconds before quickly falling beneath the lava again.

"A time trial." Ryan noted.

"Fun." Shawn muttered.

Shawn pressed the button again and the walkway sprung up again. He mentally counted the seconds before the walkway disappeared.

"Okay, it lasts for seven seconds." Shawn explained. "If we're luckly we should be able to outrun the lava as it comes over...hopefully."

"I'll go first." Shawn offered and when Ryan didn't object he ran.

It looked like he would be wrong and the lava wouldn't even touch him when he noticed the orange death getting very close to him.

"Oh...my...God!" Shawn yelled as he dove off the vanished walkway and onto safety.

When he came up he gave a quick thumbs up for Ryan and then sat down. Ryan repeated the trick and also made it across or so it seemed before Shawn pointed out that his leg was on fire.

"Argh!" Ryan yelled and shoved his leg into the fountain drowning the flames.

With that the friends continued toward a wooden door surrounded by a black stone frame. Shawn opened the door and was promptly met by dozens of exploasions going off. He jumped backwards and ran back to the fountain.

"Did you just scream?" Ryan asked.

"...no." Shawn said.

"I think you did." Ryan said.

"Look, can we focus on the many explosions that are going on outside that door instead what I may or may not have done?" Shawn pleaded.

"It can't be that bad."

Ryan and Shawn walked through the door and saw an immediat difference in the lighting. What they could see was a gigantiuc floating head with tenteclestrailing. The things focused on them and they saw that it was crying tears. Ryan immediatly felt sad and then stopped feeling sad for it when the creature shot a fireball at him.

To lighten up the path they pulled out their torches and headed straigh for a black spiral staircase in the center of the room. To their dismay they saw several more of the floating heads which immedialty focused in on them and shot fireballs.

The coats helped protect them from the explosion the fireballs caused and the fire but only slightly. Shawn looked ahead and saw that the staircase ended at a sudden turn and a foot away from that stop was the contiuation of the stair.

"Jump!" Shawn shputed and shot into the air and onto the other stair.

Ryan copied him and they contiued to run. A zombie turned and moaned at the sight of Shawn getting close but was kicked off before he could move. The heads contiued their assault and the fireballs rained down on them.

Their was another gap and the duo jumped it. One of the heads loomed close nd Ryan, purely on instinct unsheathed his sword straight into the side of the head. It shierked and floated downward but he duo were preoccupied with another jump. This jump desposited them straight inf ront of a door that they were too happy too open.

In the small room on the other side the friends collasped from exhaustion.

"Why...?" Shawn asked.

"Come on." Ryan told him.

On the other side of the door was another spiral staircase.

"What is it and castles having so many spiral staircases?" Ryan asked.

"Makes it look fancy." Shawn replied.

Up the staircase they went and along the way they began to eat the food they brought. While eating they wondered.

_"Can't wait too go home...though I still have to do that paper.."_ Shawn grimaced as he thought._"Oh well, it's safer than risking my life for someone I don't know." _

_"Wonder what Decker looks like...maybe he's got a beard...or maybe he has a moustache...or maybe he has both." _Ryan thought._"Still, I hope he's okay..." _

They reached the top and Decker's voice broke through.

"You are very close. Your goal is within the plam of your hand...the only thing stopping you is a small army of the undead, but I'm sure you'll be able to handle it!" Decker said.

"What." Shawn replied. "When were you gonna tell us?"

"...Just now. Good luck." Decker's voice suddenly stopped.

"...Damn." Shawn cursed.

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	9. Book I: Chapter 9

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"Sooooo...final boss time?" Ryan asked.

Shawn looked at the door separting them from an army that could and would kill them.

"I wouldn't call an army a 'boss', it's more like the fianl dungeon before the final boss." Shawn said.

"What would be the final boss?" Ryan asked.

"The Dark One's right hand man." Shawn answered. "So probably that skeleton."

"Oh. That'll be easy." Ryan said. "Unless this one recieved some massive powerup."

"Are we ready?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah. Let's go kill some zombies/skeletons/spiders/tall green things that explode!" Ryan yelled and kicked down the door. "...I always wanted to do that."

"Well, now they know we're here." Shawn noted.

Ryan charged into the room, his sword drawn and Shawn followed an arrow nocked. The room on the other side was made entirly out of black stone and was not well lit. The friends also discovered that there was some weird sticky all over the floor that slowed them down immensly.

Also the spider that dropped right onto Shawn's head wasn't very nice either.

"Get off!" Shawn yelled and ripped the abnormally sized arachnd off his head and threw it on the ground.

He finished it off with a point blank arrow and then bent low to retrieve the arrow and fire at a amall group of green monsters that were advancing on them. Ryan had busied himself with hacking away at a zombie. When it fell away dead (again) he began to make his way over to the army of green things. In response they charged.

It would have been threatening...except they moved slow even without the wierd floor and the friends knew that the monsters didn't seem to have any other attacks besides exploding. So Shawn simple picked one by one off with his arrows.

They slowly continued along, killing a few zombies and skeletons before an arrow whizzed by and hit Ryan. Luckily it hit his coat but it still knocked him down.

Shawn looked forward and immediatly raised an eyebrow. A skeleton was riding atop a spider and was looking down at them savagly.

"You DARE intrude upon my master's chambers?!" The skeleton said. "The newest Praetor shall NOT stand for this!"

"Oh, that guy." Shawn said. "Shouldn't be a-"

He was cut off when the spider suddenly closed on him in alarmingly speed and the skeleton took the chance to fire a point blank arrow into his face. Shawn borught his coat sleeve up and the arrow grazed by, slicing threw the skin on his cheek. Warm blood slipped down his face.

"Whoa!" He recoiled.

The spider hissed and bared its poison coated fangs. It was even larger than the other spiders and the skeleon was sitting perfectly comfortably on its neck. The skeleton aimed another arrow and Shawn dropped his bow, diving to the side.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE DARK ONE!" The skeleton yelled. "Lend me your strength so that I may CRUSH this mindless meatsack!"

Ryan had been attempting to his friend but was bogged down by a sudden attack of zombies. Praetor fired another arrow and watched as Shawn rolled to dodge it.

Shawn eyebrows knit together to think and he suddenly came up with a plan. He ran behind the nearest wall.

"Hiding will not protect you, meatsack! I can SMELL your blood!" Praetor yelled and urged his steed forward.

Shawn suddenly dropped onto the spider's abdomen, from his vantage point.

"I was hoping you would find me." He muttered.

The skeleton turned and Shawn got a good look into the red eyes of the skeleton. They were filled with wrath, arrogance, and now, surprise. It turned with an arrow nocked but Shawn promptly smashed the bow out of the skeleton's hands. Praetor fully turned and grabbed him by the neck. While this was going on the spider siezed the opprotunity of freedom and bagn climbing a wall.

"WHAT NOW, MEATSACK?!" Praetor yelled.

Shawn's answer was to stab the spider with an extra arrow.

In pain the arachanid fell off the wall, its legs curling. The trio landed with a crash and Shawn layed there, his breath knocked out. Praetor looked at him and screamed in rage, before charging.

Ryan took one look at Praetor and then slashed the heads off all three zombies that were attacking him in one stroke. He rushed over and knocked the skeleton back with the blunt off his sword.

"I don't think so, Protor." He stopped. "That's your name right?"

"ARGH!" Praetor lunged again and Ryan slashed off his head.

"Close enough." Ryan responded.

Shawn stood up and shook his head. He picked up a bow that had fallen and nodded at Ryan. They rushed on ahead again adn attacked a squad of zombies. The undead grunts fell and Ryan continued on ahead, while Shawn climbed back up to his vantage point. He was forced to balance on a narrow space but it did allow him a clear shot at the nearest enemies.

Ryan slashed through a skeleton and then suddenly heard a dreaded sound.

Hissing.

The explosion went off behind him and he was thrown forward. His eyes widened fully and he looked up into the face of another green thing. It stared down at him for a moment and then began to hiss. Ryan scrambled back and saw that a skeleton was aiming at him. The creature exploded and Ryan rolled to avoid an arrow. A spider dropped from the ceiling and attempted to bite him but Ryan punched it and then finally managed to stand up.

He flinched and winced as an arrow struck his side and bounced off. Ryan stabbed the spider and moved on.

Shawn shuffled forward from his vantage point and aimed at the skeleton. It toppled over the side, an arrow through its skull and suddenly Shawn noticed Ryan.

His friend had moved forward through the maze of black stone and did not realize that the tall green things were closing in on him. Shawn aimed and fired several times but one escaped and exploded. While Ryan was diving to the side Shawn suddenly had a weight on his head that hadn't been there before.

"Ah! Spider!" Shawn cried.

He attempted to swat the arachnid but it jumped off and then tackled him off the wall. Shawn landed his eyes grew wide when he saw five of the green things staring back at him. They all exploded at about the same time and Shawn was dazed by all the explosions. He blinked and thanked God that his coat seemed to be explosion-proof.

The floor had been reduced to a crater and he was right in the middle of it. He struggled up and gaped when he saw a trio of green creatures beginning to move towards him. They exploded and Shawn was knocked back into a wall. He groaned in pain and staggered forward.

_"Ow..." _Shawn thought.

He moved out of the crater and was relieved to see Ryan on the other side...right before a skeleton shot him in the back. Just his luck but the skelton managed to find the one small tear in the jacket. Shawn looked momentarily stunned and then collapsed.

Ryan rushed right to his side and sliced the bow the skeleton was wielding in half and then the skeleton quickly followed. He knelt down at Shawn's side and hesitated.

"What can I do!?"

He thought desperatly.

Shawn's mouth was moving and but Ryan couldn't hear him, he was so quiet. Shawn had gone all pale and his lips were beginning to turn a blue color. Ryan bent low and pressed his ear near Shawn's mouth.

"Bottles...jacket..." He managed.

Ryan tore into the pockets and came up with the two bottles. He looked at the strange symbols on the front and took note of the cadaecus.

_"Isn't that on hospitals?"_ Ryan thought.

He uncorked the bottle and tipped his friend's head before half of the pink liquid in.

Nothing happened for the first few, agonizing long seconds and then Shawn coughed and sat up. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief as Shawn's face regained all of its color.

He looked at the bottles and then at the other fuller one. He took note of its symbol and then stashed both in his jacket.

"Hey, Ryan?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah?"

"My back's really itchy, is there someting sticking out of my back?" Shawn asked.

"Umm..yeah, about that.." Ryan started and stopped when he noticed the arrow suddenly fall away.

He looked back at Shawn's face and was startled to see the scratch that Shawn had recieved was barely more than a faint scar. In a few secinds it was gone.

_"That was pretty strong..."_ Ryan thought.

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It was quickly becoming very annoying to both have to fight what seemed to be an endless onslaught of monsters and also figure out where the exit was in the maze. After going through a twisting corridor they found the exit...and also all of its guards.

"There are like, fifteen of those green guys!" Ryan noted.

"We should really come up with a name for them. It's getting annoying to have to refer to them as 'green guys'." Shawn said.

"Okay how about-_when did that get there_!?" Ryan shouted.

Shawn instanly jumped forward and felt the shockwave of the explsion hit his back. He came up and nocked an arrow before firing at a green creature.

It hissed and then exploded, killing its comrades. The other green creatures began to close in and Shawn fired repeatedly. Ryan would help by jumping close to one and then jumping back just as it exploded. By the time they were finished there was a very large crater at the exit.

"...I think the name creeper is okay." Shawn said.

"Creeper?" Ryan asked.

"As in they 'creep' up on you." Shawn answered.

The walked into a room with a stone floor and a trail of fire along the walls. Down the corridor was a _very _large room completely made up of the blacks tone and illuminated by the pits of fire everywhere. In front of them they colud see that the entire wall was made out of some type of stone, which struck them as.

They took another step and suddenly stopped when they heard the sound of feet hiting stone. Curious they waited and watched as something walked up the steps to where they were.

Ryan felt a chill as he looked at what had arrived. It was dressed ina black suit and tie, with black polished shoes and a starched white shirt. It was as pale as snow and what really disturbed them was the fact thaqt it had no face.

"Holy..." Shawn said.

"It's that statue..." Ryan realized.

The "statue" brought up long, elegant fingers and casually readjusted its tie.

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	10. Book I: Chapter 10

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"I think I've seen him before..." Shawn said.

"Where?" Ryan asked. "At a cosplay convention?"

"No...it may have been on the internet." Shawn suggested.

No face looked at them or they at least _thought_ it was looking at them.

There was silence for abit and then Shawn suddenly fired an arrow at no face and Ryan charged in. No face took one look at the speeding arrow and then moved his head to one side to avoid it. It then casually batted Ryan's sword away and then flicked him in the forehead. Ryan stumbled back, confused and suddenly felt a sharp pain in the spot where no face had hit.

Shawn fired another arrow that no face also dodged and Ryan attepemted to stab it. No face caught the sword in between his fingers and then lifted Ryan off the floor.

It watched Ryan's surprised expression before throwing him right to where Shawn was.

"Defitnetly the final boss." Shawn muttered, glumly.

"What do we do?" Ryan asked, standing up.

No face leisurely stretched out its fingers.

"I have an idea..." Shawn said, slowly.

He whispered it into his frend's ear and the nodded. Ryan looked at him and then ran, screaming like a madman at no face. It tilted its head at this behavior and blcoked Ryan's slash with its forearm. Shawn used the distraction to fire an arrow...that was flicked out of the air before it could reach its target. No face shook its head but stopped when Ryan punched it square in the jaw.

No face took a step back and touched the spot where Ryan had hit him. He looked over to where Shawn was and then nodded.

Both freinds felt it at the same time, as if a tenticle had pireced there mind and was casually going through there thoughts and feelings. They were frozen in shock and wondered what was going on when something else spoke in there mind.

_"Kinn."_

And with that the presence left.

Ryan retreated back to where Shawn was, keeping one eye on no face.

"What was that?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know...what's 'Kinn'?" Shawn said.

At the mention of the name no face brought onw finger up and pointed at itself.

"That's it's name?" Ryan asked.

"Why would it tell us its name?" Shawn looked at no face, or Kinn.

"Maybe it's like a honor villains do sometimes when they find a worthy opponet." Ryan explained. "Hey, Kinn! I'm Ryan Flary Roida!"

"What are you doing!?" Shawn hissed.

"Introducing myself." Ryan said.

"Ryan, that is not some animal that you met out in the forest, that _thing _is a demon from Hell." Shawn said.

"...a very polite demon." Ryan noted.

"But still a demon." Shawn reminded him.

They stopped arguing when Kinn suddenly hit them both at the same time with what looked like a lariat. They went flying backswards and when Shawn hit the ground he gasped for air. Ryan on the other hand suddenly remebered the bottles when he heard the clink of glass. He scrambled and opened the packet to check. They looked okay and an idea dawned on Ryan.

"Shawn..." Ryan began and stopped when Kinn appeared in front of him and backhanded him away.

Shawn looked furious and shot an arrow that Kinn flicked out of the air before punching Shawn in the stomach. Shawn toppled over and Kinn sidestepped to avoid Ryan's slash.

Ryan brought the sword up and Kinn caught it between his fingers. It looked at Ryan with no eyes and then punched him in the face.

Ryan fell over, feeling immense pain in his cheek.

_"This guy has an insane amount of strength!" _Shawn thought, looking at Ryan's collapsed body. _"Everytime he hits us its like we're being hit by a hammer!" _

"We can't beat him!"

Kinn readjusted its tie and began to walk away.

"We're not done yet!" Ryan shouted and stood up.

He winced and held his cheek but still looked with unwavering determination at Kinn.

"That king needs our help and _nothing_ is gonna stop us!" Ryan promised.

Kinn turned back around and tilted its head at Ryan, curious.

_"Ryan's insane!"_ Shawn thought.

Shawn nocked an rrow and fired, taking advantage of his opponet's distraction and Kinn dodged, jumping back. Ryan picked up his sword and stood beside Shawn.

"I've got a plan," Ryan whispered. He held up the bottle with the circles. "This might help us."

"What does it even do?" Shawn asked.

"Hold on a second." Ryan tapped his earpiece and it briefly hummed before a tin sheet of light covered the bottle. The sheet disappareted and Ryan held his earpiece close to his ear to listen the information being streamed.

"Wha-" Ryan stopped him with a finger.

When he took the hand away, he uncorked the stopper on the bottle. "I figured out that these gadgets can scan an object and then tell us what it is."

"Oh. That's cool..." Shawn suddenly remembered. "Wait, why didn't you scan that green sludge?"

"...I forgot." Ryan held up his hands in a defense. "I was in a lot of pain and thought it was just a hallucination!"

"Anyway this is a Potion of Strength. Like the name implies it gives the user a temporary burst of inhuman strength." Ryan explained." Let's hope it's enough."

He downed half of the pink liquid inside. He blinked and then flexed a bicep.

"I feel stronger already!" He slapped the bottle into Shawn's chest. "Hold this for me while I'm gone!"

He chrged straight at Kinn his sword held high and Kinn...just stood there. He didn't attempt to move or dodge at Ryan's assualt. Ryan brought his sword down and Kinn blocked the sword with his forearm. The ground beneath them cracked and began to push out.

"Damn this guy is strong_!" _Ryan thought. He pushed harder but Kinn didn't seem affected. _"In theory his arm should be gone from the impact...what _is _this guy!?"_

Ryan grunted with excertion and Kinn's attention was completely devoded on him...so he didn't notice Shawn suddenly crush him into the already pulversized ground and cause the floor to come up in chunks.

"Now _that _is a Potion of Strength!" Shawn proclaimed.

"Do you think he's dead?" Ryan asked looking at the limp body.

"Maybe." Shawn said. He prodded the body with his foot. "No human should survive-"

He was cut off when Kinn shot up, grabbed Shawn by the throat and effortestly threw him. Shawn looked quite comical, going head-over-heels like a ragdoll but it stopped being funny when you noticed his complete look of fear and shock. Kinn was already charging at Ryan and Ryan felt a sickening cruch in his ribcage as Kinn struck him there. He too flew back and landed gasping for air in between bouts of pain.

"Dammit!" Ryan mangaged.

"What the hell is that guy!?" Shawn yelled.

Kinn readjusted its tie.

Ryan fumbled with his pocket and pulled out the Potion of Healing. He uncorked it and drank a some. His breathing eased and he felt his ribs begin to realign themselves.

"What now? I'm out of ideas!" Ryan said, dragging himself over to where Shawn was.

"I may have one..." Shawn said, slowly. "How long would that potion last?"

"Umm...it ran out like a second ago." Ryan explained.

"I thought so." Shawn said. "It doesn't matter though, I have a plan."

They spoke in hushed tones and then Ryan took the bottle. The duo nodded at each other and then Shawn retreived his bow. He loaded an arrow and took aim. Ryan stood tense beside him, his hands a deathgrip on his sword.

Kinn watched them. It found these humans interesting, tehy had manged to outwit it not once but twice. That was better then almost all of its previous opponets had done and it was feeling something along the lines of...excitement? Yes, that was the word.

"Attack!" Shawn yelled.

He fired his arrow and Kinn dodged. Shawn repeated the attack and Kinn continued to dodge when it noticed Ryan closing in. Kinn brought its forarm up to protect itself and noticed that Shawn had kept fring arrows. Kinn moved its head side to side to avoid the projectiles and blocked Ryan's sword. Ryan pushed and Kinn noticed that Shawn was getting closer. It brought one hand up behind its back expecting an attack, but instead felt a slight twinge in its stomach.

It had been stapped by an arrow Ryan was holding and then he pulled it out and Kinn suddenly realized Shawn was closer yes, but he had simply come closer to get a better aim and let loose three arrows. They stapped into Kinn's chest and Ryan knocked away his arm, stabbing straight though to the other side.

Kinn tilted its head and then stopped when Shawn shot an arrow right between it's eyes.

There was a gutwrenching silence for next minute as the duo watched with anticipation to see if Kinn was dead, hoping it was.

The exact opposite happened.

Kinn's hand twitched and brought itself up. Ryan noticed it rising and retreated back to where Shawn was, leaving his sword impeded in the creatures chest. Kinn pulled the sword out and bringing it's other hand up, snapped the blade in two. It threw away the two halves and then began the process of pulling out the arrows.

Shawn fired more of them into Kinn's body and Kinn stood there as they puncstured its body. Shawn stopped firing when he could not feel the arrow shafts anymore.

Kinn continued the process of pulling out the arrows and when he was done they could see the black holes where the arrows had been. The duo watched as the holes began to slowly close up and then were gone, like they had never been there.

It readjusted its tie and then was right in front of Shawn in an instant. Shawn brought up his bow and Kinn took it, broke it half and then punched Shawn in three separate places where the bones immediatly broke upon imapct. Ryan made a move forward and was backhanded to where Shawn had landed.

The three fighters were now all in their original starting positions. Kinn surveyed the friends and when it noted their breathing did not move.

It readjusted it's tie and waited for their next move.

Ryan brought out the Potion of Healing and drank one mouthfull before giving the rest to Shawn. It was now empty and with a startling realization, they began to think that they had lost.

Kinn seemed unbeatable. Not only did have monsterous starnght but he could could also recover from any wound they inflicted on him.

"We should just give up...we can't win..." Shawn said.

"I probably would ahve to agree with you..." Ryan said. "...if were at home. Now? Not so much."

"Shawn, I've been saying how much of this was like an RPG and you know what? There's that point against the boss where the heroes realize they don't have a damn chance and yet they _keep fightning._ Through some divine intervention they keep getting up after receiving a blow that would normally rip some guy in two, they keep chopping away at the big bad despite him being strong enough to make a city nothing but a hill of dust. And you know why? Because heroes never die and they certainly don't give up."

Ryan stood up and offered a hand to Shawn. Shawn looked at it for a moment and then accepted it, pulling himself up.

I have chosen well.

Your courage shall be rewarded my knights.

As soon as the voice ended the duo found a power swelling up inside them, flooding themselves with energy and they opened their mouths at Kinn. Two words entered their minds: _Dragon's Breath._

Kinn moved it's head to one side as it watched the duo.

Kinetic energy gathered in front of their mouths and then was fired in a powerful, mid-sized beam. Kinn was already in motion backing away but the beams struck both of his arms and he stood as the beams vaporised his arms. When the attack ended Kinn looked odd with both of his arms gone. It stood there, it's head cocked to one side.

Ryan and Shawn fell to their knees coughing. After a few moments of couching and hacking Ryan recovered enough to notice Kinn standing there. He pulled out the sword he had retrieved from the crypt and unsheathed. He calmly walked straight up to Kinn and stabbed the no face through the chest. He left it embedded in their and then socked Kinn in the jaw, causing it to tumble backwards off the platform.

With Kinn gone Ryan could get a look of the rest of the room. It had pools of water, surrended by fire on the ground floor and a large cube shaped dome made of some black rock.

Shawn walked over and togther they descended the stairs towards the cube.

"Get...away...it...'s...a..."

Ryan stopped and looked around. Shawn copied him.

"Did you hear that?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah." Shawn said.

Cautiously they continued towards the cube and saw that a lever had been put on one side of the door. Ryan pulled it down and the duo watched as the some of the rock pulled away to reveal somebody slumped against a wall. Nudging the person's face was a sheep...that had golden fur.

"Hey, it's that sheep." Ryan exclaimed. "Wait, I thought it died?"

"I don't know." Shawn said.

They supported the person up and brought him out of the prison (it was clear now that it was a prison) to lay him on the ground. In the better light they could see he was a man in his mid-to-late thirties with a neatly trimmed beard and hair of a dark shade. The man was dressed in rags. He was unusally pale and were beginning to wonder if he was dead when the person groaned.

He opened his eyes and both were disturbed to see that they were clear white, no iris or pupil.

"...trap..." The man managed and exploded.

Dozens of screaming spirits stormed out of his body and straight into the wall at the back of the room. It began to crack and crack until it shattered to reveal a wall of lava. Slowly the wall protuded out as something burst into sight.

The man gurgled and struggled into a sitting position.

"He had posseded me for days and in order to decive you into freeing him. You idiots!" The man coughed. "Didn't you think it was strange why you two of all people were chosen? It was all an eloborate gambit and you two played along like lambs to a slaughter."

"...Decker?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, it's me!" Decker said.

"Are you sure you were possesed? You're treating us just like you normally do." Shawn quizzed.

"Yes...and now he's free to wreak havoc on my kingdom, our world."

"Who?" Ryan asked, already knowing but praying it wasn't true.

"The Dark One." Decker manged and then began to cough so hard he spat up blood. While Shawn tended to him Ryan looked back at the lava wall.

The thing finshed its journey out of the lava and looked down on them. It was a gigantic skull with glowing red eyes and a toothy grin. Even from this far away they could feel the intenisty of heat and something else...something like...anger?

**"Muawhahahah!" **The Dark One shouted in it's heavily distorted voice.

**"I must say, I'm surprised someone as slow as you managed to get here, but, it makes sense since you believed my ridiculous story. It was so hilarous, what with you prancing along like some idiotic mutt and the king trying oh so hard to warn you."**

**"But I must confess, I am in your debt now. As such I will leave you alive but that is more of a punishment as you watch your world burn."**

But only Ryan was really paying attention because while Shawn was busy with the king, Decker was speaking to him.

"I know a spell that could help us but it will require you to surrender your V-Techs, Chainmail and Torches." Decker explained when he saw Shawn looking at him, perplexed Decker pointed. "The coat, the earpiece and the...torch."

_"Ahh, so_ that's _what they're called." _Shawn thought.

"It is a spell passed down our family line only to be used in the most direst of situations. It will buy you a week at the least." Decker continued. He winced and the sheep baaed. "Amalthalia will show you to a minecart system that this fiend had used to transport materials in here to build this room."

"Alright." Shawn said and realized something."You're not coming with us?"

"I'm afraid my time is up. I have failed my kingdom and could never live with myself if I lived." Decker let out a sad laugh. "Tis better a noble death than a dishonourable one."

"Go. Get your friend."

Shawn nodded and hande over his coat and earpiece. He tapped Ryan on the shoulder and asked him to also give his Chainmail and V-Tech. Ryan did so and then was told about the minecart.

"Cool, I'll get Decker." Ryan said but Shawn put a hand out to stop him.

"He's not coming with us." Shawn explained.

"What? Why?" Ryan asked.

"He needs to stay here for the spell." Shawn continued.

"Why can't he cast it-oh." Ryan realized."...isn't there another way?"

"No." Shawn said, surprisingly sad. "Come on."

They followed the sheep behind the stairs and saw the railway and minecart. They hopped in and then Amalthalia nudged the lever into an opposite position causing the minecart to move.

**"And there is nothing that can be done."**

The Dark One finished.

He looked down at the mortals, expecting them to straing up at him with awe or shock or fear or some compination of the three but instead saw Decker.

"I see those two were smart and fled. I'm surprised they did not try and take you along, your highness, they strike me as the type to be impractical and carry dead weight."

The Dark One noted.

Decker looked up at the demonic skull and grinned. He finished absorbing the magic of the devices at his feet and warily stood up.

"I'll show you dead weight." Decker said and began to chant.

_"Ante meum tempus decernimus,_

_Auxilium meum decernimus regnum in extrema necessitate,_

_Hostem victum esse decernimus,_

_Me decretum est ... et ego urgeant._

_Regis legis."_

**"A spell? You think a simple incantation will stop me?"**

The Dark One laughed.

"Stop you? No. Trap you? _Yes." _

Tendrils of energy erupted from his body and began to snare The Dark One's head/body. The tendrils transformed into chains and The Dark One was pushed back into the lava wall.

He did not fight however; it would need the energy when it broke free of this...temporary inconvience.

"A spell of this calibur will only contain me for a week. I am patient, I can wait."

The Dark One thought as he disappeared behind the lava. _"And when I am freed then this, oh this world, it will _burn."

Decker watched the skull recede back in the lava wall and then nearly collapsed.

Ah...damn. I knew this was coming but still...I guess I deserve it. A king is his kingdom and with my kingdom in its current state well..."

Decker stumbled and fell to one knee. "_I deserve it anyway, I let him take control of me too easily, I could have fought back. Now the greastest evil has been released on the world and becasue of those two fools..." _Decker layed down on the ground.

_"I quess I should have thanked them anyway, they risked life and limb to rescue 'me'...I didn't even get their names..."_

Decker looked up at the ceiling.

"I wish the roof was open...I always did like watching the clouds and what a pleasure it would have been to have my final sight be of them...but this is what I deserve for failing my kingdom."

Decker let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

"I pray to Notch that those two vanquish The Dark One for I truly belive they can do it."

And with that the etenal sleep of death closed in and the king of Atlantis was gone.

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The minecart stopped just out side a cave at the edge of one of the islands. Shawn and Ryan looked down at the clouds in silence.

They looked at each other, thinking about everything that had happened and then nodded.

Decker bought them a week's worth of time, they needed every minute.

They had a world to save.

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**End of Book One: Dawn of a Flame**

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_And that's the end of book one. Hope you'll join me for book two._

_Translations:_

_I decree that my time has past,_

_I decree that my kingdom is in dire need,_

_I decree that my enemy must be stopped,_

_I decree...and I enforce._

_King's Law_


	11. Book II: Chapter 1

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_**So, yeah, that sucked. I mean Shawn and I released the an omniciadal maniac oppsessed with burning stuff, our only contact was dead and we had nothing. Not even any bacon.**_

_**But heroes don't give up that easily, right? Look at Batman, he could have given up anytime he wanted to and retire to somewhere more peacefull but does he? Nope, instead he became one of the greatest heroes who ever lived.**_

_**My dream as a kid was to be a superhero just like Batman. Now dream has come true...even if I do have to put with the weight of the world on my shoulders.**_

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It was only after a creeper nearly blew them up that they decided they needed to do something.

Up until then they just wandered around aimlessly, remembering Decker and The Dark One, avoiding mobs of monsters as they passed. After exiting the minecart they had found an old path that led into a forest and followed it. That's when the creeper seemingly came out of nowhere and exploded, leaving a small crater in the road. Shawn had just backstepped in time and looked at the gap.

"What do we do?" Shawn asked.

"I don't know...this is probably the point where some divine messenger speaks to us with something cryptic and we discover new powers that we never knew existed along the way." Ryan paused. "Nope."

Shawn sighed and blinked. On the opposite side of the hole was a chest stuck into the dirt, just beneath the surface. He circled around and began to dig with Ryan quickly joining him. Soon the chest was uncovered and they pulled it out. The duo opened the chest and looked inside. It contained three rolls of paper, a leather bag and a simple dagger. Above that was a note.

Shawn picked it up and opened.

"It's from Vucarik." Shawn said.

"Who?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, right, you never knew about that." Shawn said, pulling out the contents. "Remeber that coat and potions we got? I found that in a chest that had been put their by some guy by the name of 'Vucarik'."

"Huh." Ryan said. "Doesn't look as good."

Ryan unfurled one of the papers and blinked.

"Never mind." He apolagized, holding out a map.

This was one was a map that contained a grouping of green shapes surrounded by blue. According to the legend the shapes were other floating clusters and the blue was the sky.

"There are others?" Shawn asked.

"Here's Atlantis." Ryan said pointing out the one marked with the letter A.

Shawn unfurled the other paper and came across another map, but this one was entirely focused on a one island, Atlantis.

"Where are we?" Ryan asked.

"Let's see...okay, this giant building is the castle, so we must be near there." Shawn traced out a possible route and tapped his finger on where they were. "Here in this small forest. Just a few meters ahead of us is some type of building with...boats? We could go there."

"What about this one?" Ryan held up the last paper.

It showed another island this one called Eternia. From the map they could see it was just about the size of Atlantis, if not bigger by a slight amount.

"We'll go there since we have a map." Shawn supplied. "It's also the closest to Atlantis."

The duo continued forwards, this time with a clear goal in mind. They passed through the remainder of the forest with no problem (well except for the spider that dropped down on Shawn's head as thye exited the forest but it was just as scared as them as they were of it, so it ran off). On the other side of the forest was a flat grassland and at the edge of the island was a simple two-story wooden building. They entered and looked around at the receptionist's office with its fuzzy couches, bookshelf and desk. Ryan picked up a sheet of paper.

"What now?" Ryan asked. "According to this the owners of this place are away on vacation."

"...so?" Shawn asked, exiting the building.

"'So?' What can we do?" Ryan asked.

They rounded the house and saw some docks that would normally be in the water with actual boats surrounding them. The boats were basic, square structures

"Borrow a boat." Shawn said.

"But wouldn't that be stea-"

"_Borrowing. _Besides there not gonna notice." Shawn hopped into the nearest boat.

Ryan looked hesitant and then jumped in.

"Now how do you...?" Shawn started back when he flipped some switch and two levers popped up. "Oh."

"...can I drive?"

"I thought you didn't want to borrow the boat."

"I changed my mind after I realized we get to drive a floating boat."

"No you can't. Mainly because your driving sucks-"

"Hey, it's not that bad!"

"Ryan, everytime I get in the car with you I have to pry my arms from the armrests because of my concern you'll hit someone or something."

Ryan opened his mouth and then closed when he realized what he was about to say wouldn't help him.

"You can hadle the map, to make sure we go the right way." Shawn told him.

"Fine." Ryan agreed.

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It took almost three hours to finally reach Eternia. They would have been there sooner but it took Shawn a long time to master the controls and Ryan to read the mpa correctully since they used a different set of measurement then what he was used to.

But they finally entered the port on Eternia's ports and hopped out...to be greeted by a human.

"Hello and welcome to Eternia!" The attendent said.

"Are we hallucinating?" Ryan whispered.

"...no." Shawn said.

"If you'll follow me we shall lead you to customs." The attendent walked straight into the building and Shawn and Ryan followed at a safe distance.

"There are others here?" Ryan asked, looking at the other humans.

"Yeah...apperently." Shawn was confused.

"So, can I have your names?" The attendent asked brandishing a clipboard.

"Ryan Flary Roida."

"Shawn Ramza."

"Okay...is this your first time at Eternia?"

"Umm...yeah." Ryan said.

The attendent copied this information down and then nodded at them.

"Hmm..." The receptionist said, looking at them.

"What?" Shawn asked.

"You two, did you by chance come to join the Nighthawks?" The attendent asked. Noticing the looks she continued speaking. "It's the island's most famous guild."

"Why would we join that?" Shawn asked.

"...I don't know, the idea just...came to me." The attendent looked frazzled then put on another smile. She handed them two small sheets of paper." These are your ID. They will show that you have come through legally."

"Cool." Ryan said looking at the card.

"Will this cost anything?" Shawn asked.

"Just a small fee of gold." The attendent held out her hand.

"Ummm...one sec." Ryan grabbed Shawn and dragged him out of earshot. "We don't have any money."

"I have an idea." Shawn said.

He rummaged in his pocket and pulled a pocket of change. He selected the coins he wanted and put the rest back.

"It's awfally dirty." The attendent said examining the coins Shawn had given her.

"Sorry I dropped in some mud back home." Shawen lied.

"And where is your home?"

"...Kanadia." Shawn said remebering a name on the map.

"Ah, yes, 'the frigid north', correct?" The attendent said.

"Yeah." Shawn began to back up." Well we have to get going so, bye."

He forced himslef not to run and Ryan waved at the attendent before following.

They walked ahead a bit before Ryan spoke.

"How'd you remember a name on that map?"

"It was similar to Canada." Shawn said.

"Ah. Do you think she'll notice it's not real gold and really just a loonie?"

"Probably not but by then we'll be far away."

The duo walked on in silence before Ryan spoke up again.

"Which is where?"

"I have no clue."

"How about that guild the Nightcrawler or whatever?" Ryan suggested.

"Nighthawks." Shawn corrected.

"It seems like a good idea. Plus don't RPG heroes often join those for sidequest and other crap?" Ryan said.

"It's better than nothing." Shawn shrugged

"It's only a few kilometers away, come on!" Ryan raced ahead.

"Hey wait up!" Shawn yelled.

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After several hours of lying there on the stone floor, the demon with no face stood up. It could have gotten up sooner but it was still recovering, but not from the damage. It's arms had repaired themselves long ago and the sword had already been pulled out. No, it was recovering from the shock.

Kinn had never once in it's life thought it would see something like that. That display of power almost rivaled what it's master could do, what it's master _did._

It surveyed the damage. It took note of the chains binding the wall that contained it's master (it wasn't very concerned about his safety mainly because it knew that The Dark One could handle situations like these. It also took note of the corpse of the former king of Atlantis. It looked at the body wiht no eyes and slowly began to walk forward until it's back was aginst the wall.

It would remain here until the The Dark One was freed but it knew those two were out there, no doubt trying to find a way to stop him.

Kinn knew where they could have gone and also knew that there was no worry.

The Dark One had someone planted there already.

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	12. Book II: Chapter 2

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Ryan stabbed the knife deep into the zombie's head and then staggered back. The zombie moaned and collapsed.

It didn't take a hour before something attacked them. They were attacked by a group of three zombies and two skeletons. So far two zombies had died and Shawn was wrestling with the skeleton for it's bow. He kicked the skelton in its knee and it stumbled back. Shawn jammed the arrow he had stolen into the skeletons head and then jumped out of the way of another. The other skeleton aimed at him and Ryan suddenly appeared, slicing the head clean off. The skelton toppled over and Shawn noticed the rotting green thing heading for Ryan.

"Look out!" He cried and picked an arrow that had been fired earlier. He had managed to scrounge for some when they had been dodging attacks. Now he was just making sure that the shots fired counted.

He launched it into the zombie's head and Ryan followed up with a quick strike to the chest.

"Well...never a dull moment for heroes, eh?" Ryan said.

"Let's just go." Shawn said, sighing.

They walked straight ahead and suddenly found themselves in a forest, with small trees and what looked like the beginning of an ocean on one side of the forest.

"So where do we go now?" Ryan asked.

Shawn examined the map and then pointed at a square building with what looked like a hawk's head drawn next to it.

"Assuming this is the Nighthawks then we just go straight and turn left." Shawn said.

Ryan nodded and then cocked his head to one side.

"Did you hear that?" Ryan asked.

"Hear what?" Shawn countered.

"Listen."

They both listened and when Shawn was about to give up and reprimmend Ryan for wasting time he heard it.

"Help...me..."

The voice sounded weak and raspy.

"Come on!" Ryan shouted and ran for the voice.

"Ryan! Wait!" Shawn followed his best friend. "It's getting dark out, we should find shelter!"

Ryan of course didn't listen and instead found the source of the voice. It looked like a man but he was sick and weak looking Ryan could have mistaken it for something else. The man opened on eye and looked at Ryan.

"Help...me...please..." He managed.

"Hang on, buddy." Ryan slung one of the man's arms over his shoulders and began to carry him.

Shawn caught up and looked at the new addition.

"We need to get this guy some help." Ryan said.

"I don't know..." Shawn said.

Ryan began to walk forward and Shawn reluctantly followed. The sun had gone down and a full moon had taken it's place while Ryan had been looking for the voice.

_"One day gone, six more to go."_ Shawn thought.

The man at Ryan's shoulder opened his eyes. He looked at Ryan and then immediatly shifted his attention to the full moon.

"Pretty isn't it?" Ryan asked.

"Oh...very much so." The man said and then smiled a smile filled with malice.

Ryan felt the same feeling he did with Kinn, a sense of incredible...evil. On instinct he punched the man in the face but he simply laughed and began to change. The skin shifted and became grey, then turned into course hair while the man's nose and mouth elongated and combined. He grew a complete head in height, two ears sprouted from it's head, his nails were sharpened to a fine point and he pulled back his mouth to reveal a set of sharp teeth. Finally the man eye's, which had been a soft brown before, now turned blood red and became slitted.

The werewolf howled at the moon and smiled again, which now became even more menacing due to his teeth.

"Run, little mouse. Run for your _life._" The werewolf laughed and laughed.

Ryan in response pulled out his knife and stabbed the werewolf in the gut. he stopped laughing and looked down. The knife snapped into pieces and Ryan looked on in disbelief.

"You got balls but I guess you don't have brains!" The werewolf lunged and Ryan rolled out of the way.

The werewolf charged again and was suddenly stopped when an arrow smacked him in the hand. The werewolf blinked and looked at Shawn.

"Oh so there's another one..." The werewolf smiled and Ryan took the opprtunity to jump on his back.

The werewolf growled and shook but Ryan firmly gripped. Shawn hesitated with aiming.

_"What if I hit Ryan?"_ He thought, indecisive.

The werewolf finally smartened up that he couldn't shake Ryan off so instead he simple jumped back and bashed him into the nearest tree. Ryan continued to hold on despite the repeated bashing.

"Damn you humans are tough!" The werewolf yelled.

Shawn finally stopped hesitating and prepared to shoot when Ryan suddenly was thrown into his body.

"Ryan?"

"Ba...con?" Ryan said, whose eyes were trying to focus on a spot three feet above them.

The werewolf growled.

"You know I thought that this would be a simple meal but do I get a freebie? Nope! Instead my meat decides to get all fiesty and probably spoiled itself!" The werewolf flexed it's fingers. "Still I could probably just take that girl I found in the flower patch and leave...naw! Lycaon will be happy if I bring new slaves!"

He laughed and suddenly realized he had just spoken outloud.

"Uh...mind just forgetting that?" The werewolf asked.

Shawn shoved Ryan off of him and fired the arrow. The werewolf caught it and smiled it's slasher smile before leaping. Shawn brought the bow up as a last physical wall but the werewolf simply smashed through it and slashed one of it's claws across Shawn's face.

He recoiled as blood began to flow and the werewolf picked him up by his neck.

"You know maybe I'll just eat you now, it'll save me the trouble of dragging you back."

The werewolves breath was horrible, smelling like roadkill but Shawn ignored that had brought up his hand.

"Since you're so lazy, let me save you the trouble of dragging anything back." And stabbed the werewolf in the left eye with the arrow he had hidden in his palm.

On instinct the werewolf letgo of Shawn and went up to his bleeding eye where he tried to stem the blood.

"DAMMIT!" He yelled in pain and yanked the arrow out

The werewolf snapped the arrow in half and then looked at Shawn, fury in his eye.

"You just made my sh-" He was cut off when a horse's hoof suddenly planted itself in his head.

The horse was dark colored with a white mane and atop that was a someone dressed in a white hoodie of some sort with the hood pulled up and grey trousers with grey fingerless gloves that gripped the leather reins. Behind the new arrival were two more horses and but Shawn could not make out who was currently riding them.

The new arrival pulled the horse away from the downed werewolf and hopped of the horse, carefully edging closer, their hand on a dagger strapped to thier leg.

The werewolf woozily stood up and then went down on all fours, growling at the hoodie. The person did not seem disturbed by this and instead slowly pulled the knife out of the sheath to reveal it was a some kind of dull yellow color and sparkled slightly in the moon. The werewolf took one look at the dagger and pulled his lip back before turning and running.

The other two horses caught up and the owners hopped off. Up close and in the moonlight Shawn could see their features closely. The one on the left was tall, dark skinned, with a bulbous nose, lazy looking eyes and pale colored hair. He was dressed similar to hoodie except his hoodie was sleeveless too show off his slight build. A sword with what looked like a customised hand guard hung from his back.

The other was skinny, with square glasses, a bowl cut of raven hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in tight pants, boots and a long white jacket of some kind. Two simple swords hung from his side.

"Another werewolf, eh?" Sleeveless said.

"You could treat things a bit more serious, David." Bowl cut noted.

"Eh, that's your job." David responded before kneeling down to look at Shawn's face. "Ouch. Hey, Raymond could you take a look at this."

Raymond scowled at David but also kneeled down to look.

"I'll clean it but it will scar." Raymond went back to his horse and pulled down a messenger bag.

"Ryan, er, my friend over there was hurt as well." Shawn blurted out.

"Huh, really?" David said. "I'll go give him a look."

While Raymond applied some wierd cream to his face and bandaged it up, David began to examine Ryan to see if there was anything. Currently, the hero wannabe was unconious but okay so David picked him up and slung him over his shoulder.

"No need worry, you're in good hands now." David said, noting Shawn's bemused expression. "I'm gonna be taking this one so Raymond here will be stuck with escorting you home."

"What!?" Raymond shouted. "Why do I have to bring him back?! Erin's just as empty! And besides it would slow us down to bring them back with us! I told the master we would be back early! This will just set us back!"

_"Oh, I'm just gonna love him..."_ Shawn thought, casually rubbing the bandage.

"See how well that goes, Ray." David said, setting Ryan on his horse.

Raymond looked like he was about to then huffed and told Shawn to follow him. As Shawn saddled up he noticed a design on the back of the white uniforms; a black hawk's head.

_"Black...hawk...the Nighthawks."_ Shawn thought. _"Saves us the trouble of walking I guess."_

"Stop fidgeting, you're making me rock." Raymond said.

_"...maybe walking would have been better."_

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	13. Book II: Chapter 3

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Shawn's first thought upon seeing the guild was that is resembled a very luxurious lodge/castle mix. His second thought was that the trek was definitely worth it.

They had been going nonstop the entire night and Shawn almost fell asleep several times but was woken when the group encountered a monster and were forced to speed up, or in the case of the hooded rider speed up, stomp the monster into the ground and then continue. After going through an immense marsh they finally saw the guild and it was... impressive.

The guild was multi-story, was mostly made out of wood and stone so that it looked like a super sized cabin and had a wall wrapped tightly around the perimeter of the place. The group made their way onto a stone pathway, lit by what looked like streetlamps, which had a long wooden pole and a block of light at the tip. The door was a massive hole in the wall but it was guarded by more Nighthawks, with the same white outfits.

Inside was even more impressive than outside. It looked like a small city, with shops ranging from food to weapons. The sheer size of the guild struck Shawn as he looked up the height of the guild.

"We're here. Get off." Raymond ordered.

Shawn did so and was joined by Ryan.

"You're awake." Shawn noted.

"I woke up a few miles back but I was still a bit sore from being bashed into that tree." Ryan examined the surroundings. "Did you ever think you'd encounter a werewolf?"

"No." Shawn answered.

"Me neither. This is turning out to be some adventure." Ryan noted.

"Hey, you two." David came up to them, his horse at his side. "Go to the front office over there and see if you can't get a room. We'll question you in the morning."

"Question?" Shawn said, knowing they couldn't just say they were attempting to save the world.

"Don't worry we do it with everyone we rescue." David reassured him. "Just the usual stuff like your names, where you're from and what you were doing before the attack."

"Okay." Shawn said, still a bit uneasy. "Wait..where's Ryan?"

"He went over by the front desk." David said and yawned. "Maybe I should join you guys it's been a long journey."

Shawn wasn't listening and went over to the inn where the kind, old man behind the counter gave him a key and told him where to locate the rooms. Erin went over and stood by David who was lazily looking at the sky.

"They're not from here are they?" Erin asked, her voice a definite females. "

David looked up at the sky, picked out a his favorite constellation (Aquila) and then answered. "No. Don't worry, if they cause trouble I'll personally handle them."

Erin pulled back her hood to reveal short brown hair, with bangs and cold blue eyes. "If you can stay awake long enough to do it."

They stopped when a young girl about twelve in a green dress and sandy colored hair, ran by. She was disheveled, covered in dust and small cuts.

"Hey, Clementine." David mumbled. "Not gonna say hello?"

"Oh, sorry." Clementine said, realizing they were there. She clasped her hands and curtsied "Hello. How was your trip?"

"Eh." David said.

"It was good, Clem." Erin answered. "What happened to you?"

Clementine seemed to hesitate on that before giving a response.

"I fell. Into a rosebush."

"There are no rosebushes around here."

"I just planted them before you left. Want to see them?" The little girl asked, getting excited.

"I would love to but maybe tomorrow."

Clementine looked a little disheartened but smiled at them.

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The werewolf ran into the meadow, swearing and growling at his luck.

"ARGH! I almost had 'em!" The werewolf howled and then stomped his foot. "If that guild damn guild hadn't gotten in my way I would have had the greatest meal since...I actually can't remember the last time I had a meal I liked!"

He growled and walked forward muttering dark things about of he hated the guilds. He was standing in a small clearing surrounded by trees where the moon shown brightly down.

"Now where'd did I put that other one...at least I won't disappoint him completely and perhaps he'll give me a extra serving of beef. Oh, that would be good!" The werewolf licked his lips and stopped when he suddenly noticed his captive wasn't there.

He sniffed the air and traced to the spot where the scent was the strongest. He had tied his captive up and thrown her near a large rock, planning to deliver her when he heard the voices of those two idiots.

He put a hand to the rag he had ripped from his pants and tied to his eye. Werewolves, when they transformed were given boosts in speed, strength and durability along with improving their smell and hearing so that it was a combination of a wolf and a human. Sight was unchanged, but that was seen as an improvement over wolf eyes since they could see little.

His remaining eye looked down at the spot his captive had been. A bundle of rope and a piece of clothe were all that remained to show were she was. The werewolf howled and then crushed the rock with his hands.

"Problem, Exsul?" A smooth and calm voice said.

The werewolf whipped around and stared at the owner of the voice. He was surprised someone had snuck up on him but then he remembered that tended to happen when he got too focused on thing.

"Ah, I...just...um, see the thing is..." Exsul trailed off.

The newcomer stepped into the moonlight and it could be seen that it was male. Or perhaps 'it' would be better since the thing in front of Exsul wasn't human. It was shaped like a human with an average build and a bald head but it's skin was a grey color and it's eyes were red like rubies. It almost seemed as if he was crafted straight out of metal.

"I asked if there was a problem." The metal man repeated.

"N-no." Exsul stuttered.

"Good. Then you are able to deliver what my master asked for?" The metal man asked.

"Not exactly...see I kind of hit a snag in that and, uh, need a bit more time." Exsul said, nervous.

The metal man looked at Exsul and the clam red eyes studied how Exsul was shifting his wieght from foot to foot and running his claws through his fur.

"You do not have them." The metal man stated.

"No, but I can get them, easily! I swear!" Exsul pointed at his nose. "I can track them, in fact I was gonna do that right before you got here!"

"What happened to your eye?" The metal man asked.

"My eye? Uh, well, the thing is, uh, I kinda lost it."

"I did not believe it was that easy to lose something that provides one half of your vision." The metal man said.

"...was that a joke?" Exsul asked because he had never heard this person joke before.

"Who stabbed your eye?"

"Just these two, dumbarses I found in the woods."

"Perhaps they were not as dumb as you thought." The metal man noted.

"Yeah, well, if I find them I'm gonna make them pay for what they did." Exsul bared his teeth.

"Focus on your first objective. Your petty vengeance can wait until that is complete." The metal man turned and began to walk away. "You do wish to eat this week do you not?"

Exsul was about to swear at the metal man for acting superior but held his tongue. He already lost an eye, he did not want to lose anything else important. Like his head.

He scavenged around the clearing trying to find the scent. His noise twitched and he crouched down to a bush. It had prickly thorns on it and on one of those thorns was a small piece of green fabric.

"Excellent." He smiled and inhaled the scent of the clothing before going down on all fours and racing off in a direction.

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